MASTER 

NEGATIVE 
NO.  94-821 98- 12 


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Author 


New  York  (State)  Bureau 
of  Women  in  Industry 

Title: 

Report  submitted  relative 
to  the  telephone  industry. 

Place: 

Albany 

Date: 

1920 


MASTER    NEGATIVE   # 


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Uevr   York  (State)  Biareau  of  wpnon  in  industry. 

Report  submitted  relative  to  the  telephone  in- 
dustry in  llew  York  state  to  His  Excellency,  the 
governor  of  the  state  of  Hew  York.  Prepared  by 
the  Duroau  of  women  in  industry,  Albany,  Lyon, 
1920. 

95  p.   tables,  diagrs.    22  on. 

On  cover:  State  of  Ilew  York,  Department  of 
labor.  Special  bulletin...  no.  100,  July,  1920. 


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DEFARTMENT    OF    LABOR 

» 

SPECIAL    BULLETIN 


Issued  Under  the  Direction  of 
THE  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION 

HDWARD  F.  BOYLF,  Oiairuian 
JilMHS  M.  LYNCH  FRANCES  PERKINS 

HENRY  D.  SAYER  CYRUS  W.  PHILLIPS 

EDWARD  W.  BUCKLEY,  Secretary 
BERNARD  L.  tHlLMAG,  Counsel 


^*-i2 


Hi; 


in:   f 


No.  100 
JULY,  1920 


THE  TELEPHONE  INDUSTRY 


A  report  svibmitted  to 

ALFRHD  E.  SMITH 

Governor  of  the  State  of  New  YorK 


Prepared  hj 
THE  BUREAU  OF  WOMEN  IN  INDUSTR7 


1 


fcniwagAwBuitii'  .!.'»,taaa 


^B^S 


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LIBRARY 


School  of  Business 


REPORT 


SUBMITTED  RELATIVE  TO  THE 


Telephone  Industry 
New  York  State 


IN 


TO  HIS  EXCELLENCY.  THE  GOVERNOR  OF  THE 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


PREPARED  BY 

THE  BUREAU  OF  WOMEN  IN  INDUSTRY 


ALBANY 

J.  B.  LYON  COMPANY.  PRINTERS 

1920 


N  I 


ti  ! 


o:) 


/JU^J-^^'^J'^^^<:) 


-3)  xgS" 


^9    -" 

?N^-  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

^  

Kecommendations 

Introduction 

7 

Scope  of  Study "     -^ 

Systems  of  Employment  and  Training it 

For  New  York  City 

Advertising ^  - 

Dormitory ,/, 

Employment  Standards j^ 

Training  School -.r. 

For  Up-State 23 

Labor  Organization: 

The  Operating  Force 04 

Loading ^5 

Basic  Hours  of  Labor  vs.  Actual  Working  Hours 30 

One  Day's  Rest  in  Seven 00 

Absenteeism ^a 

Broken  Time oc 

Wages ^ 

Labor  Turnover  and  Length  of  Service * "  * 39 

Working  Conditions: 

Ventilation .- 

Seats ^ 

Washing  FaciUties  and  Toilets ^g 

Lockers ^ 

Night  Accommodations ^ 

Rest  Rooms ^q 

Lunch  Room  Service t^ 

Supervision c* 

The  Public's  Part -■■■yy.....................^^  52 

Rest  Periods ro 

Medical  Department ^4 

Employees'  Benefit  Fund: 

Pensions ^ 

Death  Benefits rq 

Accident  Disability  Benefits 59 

Sickness  DisabiUty  Benefits \ 59 

Miscellaneous  Benefits: 

Anniversary  Payments g2 

Other  Benefits ^o 

Employees'  Representative  Plan ^4 

[3] 


m\ 


I!! 


APPENDIX  — STATISTICAL  TABLES 


PAGE 
Names   and    approximate   size   of   exclianges   covered   in   hour   and   wage 

inquiry qq 

Schedules   of   wage   payments 72 

Total  hours  worked  by  those  working  a  full  week 75 

Number  of  operators  working  overtime 76 

Number  of  operators  working  overtime 78 

Showing  number  of  days  worked  by  regular  time  operators 80 

Table  showing  percentage  of  operators  on  split  trick 82 

Table  showing  percentage  of  absentees  December  8,  9,  10 83 

Table  showing  percentage  of  operators  with  broken  time  December  8,  9,  10  83 

Productive   hours    lost 84 

Number  of  times  days  of  absence  and  broken  time  were  or  were  not  paid 

for  by  company 85 

Table  showing  number  of  workers  at  each  basic  wage 86 

Increases  above  basic  wage 88 

Earnings     9I 

Earnings     93 

Cumulative  table  of  earnings 93 

Table  showing  period  of  service,  exclusive  of  students  in  training  school . .  94 

[4] 


RECOMMENDATIONS 

The  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry  recognizes  that  recommenda- 
tions for  the  improvement  of  the  labor  policy  of  the  Telephone 
Company  fall  under  two  general  headings : 

First,  reduction  of  labor  turnover.  A  telephone  operator  is  not 
a  real  asset  to  the  Company  until  she  has  been  with  it  for  one 
year.  Therefore,  eveiy  effort  should  be  made  to  retain  the 
operators. 

Second,  an  increased  number  of  operators.  Traffic  has  increased 
27.5%  from  January,  1919,  to  January,  1920.  It  is  necessary, 
therefore,  that  the  number  of  operators  increase  proportionately 
to  the  increase  in  traffic. 

As  means  of  meeting  the  problems  presented  by  these  two  fac- 
tors, the  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry  would  therefore 
recommend : 

(1)  Scientific  selection  of  suitable  operators  by  the  Employ- 
ment Department  in  order  to  decrease  the  labor  turnover  within 
the  Training  School  itself. 

(2)  A  re-organization  of  labor  management,  so  that  the  same 
depai^ment,  preferably  the  Employment  Department,  is  responsi- 
ble for  employing,  dismissing  and  accepting  resignations  of 
operators,  thus  securing  co-ordinated  methods  of  handling  labor 
supply. 

(3)  The  limitation  of  the  number  of  working  days  to  six. 

(4)  Compulsory  rest  periods  of  15  to  20  minutes'^ at  reasonable 
intervals  for  every  operator,  preferably  splitting  the  trick  in  two 
equal  parts. 

(5)  The  elimination  of  all  overtime,  and  the  gradual  establish- 
ment of  a  seven-hour  shift  for  the  day  and  the  night  operators 
similar  to  the  seven-hour  shift  for  evening  and  split-trick 
operators. 

(6)  A  higher  maximum  wage  rate,  and  a  faster  rate  of  pro- 
motion for  an  employee  who  has  been  in  the  service  two  years. 
Increase  in  wage,  after  this  period,  which  marks  the  beginning 
of  100%  efficiency,  should  be  such  that  it  will  l>e  an  incentive  to 
remain  with  the  Company. 


6 


(7)  The  extension  of  the  facilities  of  the  Medical  Department 
to  give  operators  periodical  physical  examinations  with  particular 
reference  to  nervous  strain  and  its  effect  on  health  and  efficiency. 
In  order  to  make  this  effective,  complete  medical  records  for  each 
employee  should  he  kept. 

(8)  A  democratic  system  of  organization  and  representation 
among  the  employees,  through  v^hich  they  may  express  their  de* 
sires  and  hy  which  they  may  acquire  a  sense  of  responsihilrtj 
toward  iheir  work. 

The  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry  would  recommend  further : 

(1)  An  amendment  or  amendments  to  the  Lahor  Law  which 
shall  include  telephone  exchanges  as  subject  to  the  supervision  of 
the  Industrial  Commission  as  prescribed  for  factory  and  mercan- 
tile establishments  under  Section  51-a  of  the  Labor  Law. 

(2)  The  serious  consideration  by  the  Public  Service  Commis- 
sion of  the  items  in  this  report  which  have  a  bearing  upon  the 
much  complained  of  inadequacy  of  the  telephone  service,  with  such 
action  to  remedy  these  defects  as  is  possible  under  its  broad 
powers. 


5S^raSi- 


INTRODUCTION 

The  service  which  the  public  received  from  the  Telephone  Com- 
pany in  the  pre-war  period  was  almost  above  criticism.  In  the 
last  two  years,  especially  during  the  year  1919,  the  service  deterio- 
rated to  such  an  extent  that  business  was  crippled  and  the  public 
seriously  inconvenienced.  By  December,  1919,  the  situation  had 
become  so  acute  that  the  Governor,  desirous  of  throwing  some 
light  on  the  relation  of  the  working  conditions  of  telephone  oper- 
ators to  the  increasingly  inefficient  service  rendered  the  public, 
sent  the  following  letter  to  the  Industrial  Commission  of  the  State 
of  New  York : 

December  22,  1919. 
The  Honorable,  The  State  Industrial  Commission,  230  Fifth  Avenue,  New 
York  City: 

You  are  hereby  directed  to  request  the  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry 
to  make  an  investigation  of  the  conditions  of  employment  for  women  in  the 
telephone  exchanges  throughout  the  State  with  especial  reference  to 

Ist  — ^Wages 

2!nd  —  Hours  of  labor 

3rd  —  Sanitation 

4th  —  Labor  turnover  and  its  causes; 
that  this  special  investigation  be  made  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  your 
Commission  and  the  Public  Service  Commission  with  necessary  information. 
According  to  the  newspapers  some  investigation  of  the  telephone 
exchanges  has  been  made  by  the  Health  Commissioner  of  the  City  of  New 
York.  I  am  also  informed  that  the  employees  of  the  telephone  companies  have 
asked  for  a  hearing  on  the  question  of  their  wages,  before  the  Public  Service 
Commission.  I  am  given  to  understand  that  this  hearing  is  to  be  held  some- 
time in  January. 

Truly  yours, 

ALFRED  E.  SMITH. 

On  December  23,  1919,  the  Industrial  Commission  of  the  State 
of  N'ew  York  passed  a  resolution  requesting  the  Bureau  of  Women 
in  Industry  to  make  the  investigation  of  the  conditions  of  employ- 
ment for  women  in  the  telephone  exchanges  throughout  the  State, 
with  special  reference  to  wages,  hours  of  labor,  sanitation,  laboi 
turnover  and  its  causes. 

Telephony  is  one  of  the  newest  of  our  large  commercial  indus- 
tries, dating  only  from  1876.    In  the  earlier  years  of  its  history 

[7] 


•=t'' 


M 


^i! 


fi 


8 


the  telephone  industry  employed  only  men  and  boys,  but  in  its 
development  it  has  become  one  of  the  largest  employers  of  women 
and  girls.  Executives  in  the  telephone  industry  make  the  claim 
that  women  are  much  more  successful  and  satisfactory  operators 
than  men  or  boys,  and  hence  the  replacement  of  men  and  boys  by 
women  and  girls  on  the  operating  force. 

There  is  perhaps  no  other  industry  that  has  so  rapidly  increased 
in  improvements  and  where  invention  has  played  such  a  large 
part. 

The  farmer  living  in  remote  districts  of  the  Middle  West  is  in 
close  communication,  by  means  of  the  telephone,  with  his  neigh- 
bor and  the  country  store.  The  business  man,  spending  his  sum- 
mer on  the  coast  of  Maine,  can  be  kept  in  constant  contact,  by 
means  of  the  telephone,  with  his  oifice  in  New  York  City.  From 
coast  to  coast,  all  over  the  country,  the  telephone  has  come  to  play 
an  important  part  in  economic,  social  and  industrial  life. 

The  American  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company  system  prac- 
tically Tiontrols  the  great  national  net-work  of  toll  lines.  The  !N"ew 
York  Telephone  Company  is  a  subsidiaiy  Company  of  the  Ameri- 
can Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company  and  in  New  York  City 
handles  only  local  and  suburban  calls. 

The  telephone  industry  is  a  continuous  one  —  it  must  operate 
twenty-four  hours  of  the  day  and  seven  days  of  the  week.  Because 
of  the  fact  that  it  is  a  public  utility  the  fixing  of  rates  and  stand- 
ards is  within  the  power  of  the  Public  Service  Commission.  This 
Commission,  however,  has  never  done  anything  more  than  the 
fixing  of  rates.  It  has  never  exercised  its  power  to  go.  into  the 
efiiciency  of  the  organization  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  worker. 

The  women  who  are  employed  by  the  New  York  Telephone 
Company  are  not  subject  to  any  of  the  regulations  of  the  New 
York  State  Labor  Laws.  The  laws  limiting  the  hours  of  factory 
and  mercantile  workers  to  nine  a  day  and  fifty-four  a  week,  and 
prohibiting  their  employment  at  night,  do  not  cover  the  telephone 
operators. 

Two  studies  of  importance  have  already  been  made.  The  first 
was  published  in  1007,  and  was  a  report  of  the  Royal  Commission 
on  a  dispute  respecting  hours  of  employment  between  the  Bell  Telci- 
phone  Company  of  Canada  and  the  operators  of  Toronto,  Ontario. 


This  dispute  hinged  on  the  point  that  the  working  time  of  the 
operators  was  to  be  lengthened  from  5  to  8  hours.  The  operators 
contend*  d  that  it  was  a  physical  impossibility  to  stand  such  long 
hours.  The  Company  at  that  time  refused  to  deal  with  them  in 
any  way  and  a  strike  was  threatened,  which  would  so  seriously 
have  affected  the  public^s  interest  that  the  Canadian  Government 
stepped  in  to  settle  the  dispute. 

The  second  investigation  was  that  of  the  Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor  of  the  United  States  Government  in  1910,  after 
a  resolution  was  introduced  into  the  Senate  asking  that  an  investi- 
gation be  made  of  the  telephone  companies  engaged  in  the  conduct 
of  inter-state  business  as  to  their  method  of  business,  wages,  hours, 
etc.  Both  these  reports  threw  considerable  light  on  telephony, 
and  are  significant  in  that  these  official  bodies  at  that  time  argued 
that  the  wages  of  the  workers  were  too  low  and  the  hours  too  long. 


N 


SCOPE  OF  STUDY 

Following  the  suggestions  in  the  Governors  letter,  the  points 
covered  in  the  study  submitted  deal  generally  with  hours,  wages 
and  labor  turnover.  Sanitation  was  not  considered  to  any  great 
extent  in  this  investigation,  because  of  lack  of  time  and  because  the 
Board  of  Health  of  the  City  of  New  York  had  so  recently  made 
a  survey  of  sanitary  conditions  in  the  Telephone  Company. 

In  conference  between  officials  of  the  Telephone  Company  and 
the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry,  the  week  ending 
December  13,  1019,  was  decided  upon  as  a  typical  period  of  time 
in  which  to  study  the  pay-roll  and  the  hours  of  the  operating  force. 
The  hour  and  wage  discussions  which  are  considered  in  this  report 
cover  only  this  week.  The  labor  turnover,  however,  is  taken  on  a 
yearly  ba-sis  for  the  year  1919,  and  in  other  parts  of  the  report, 
wherever  possible,  records  for  the  entire  year  are  used. 

Roughly  speaking  the  study  covers  two-thirds  of  the  girls  em- 
ployed in  the  exchanges  of  each  geographical  division,  totaling 
12,32G  operators.  The  choice  of  exchanges  was  also  reached  in 
conference  with  officials  of.  the  !N'ew  York  Telephone  Company, 
in  order  that  we  might  have  a  correct  picture. 

In  undertaking  this  study  of  the  New  York  Telephone  Com- 
pany, the  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry  had  the  fullest  co-opera- 
tion and  support  from  the  officials  of  the  Company.  An  office  was 
assigned  to  the  Bureau  in  the  New  York  Telephone  Company's 
building  and  the  officials  of  the  Company  gave  unsparingly  of 
their  time  and  assistance. 

The  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry  began  this  study  on  January 
2,  1920,  and  is  submitting  the  final  report  to  the  Industrial  Com- 
mission of  New  York  State  on  April  6,  1920. 

[10] 


SYSTEMS  OF  EMPLOYMENT  AND  TRAINING 

The  main  difficulty  in  the  Telephone  Company  in  New  York 
City  at  the  present  time  is  the  fact  that  there  is  not  a  sufficient 
supply  of  trained  operators  to  care  adequately  for  the  central 
office  positions.  The  employment  methods  of  the  Company  are 
then  of  paramount  importance. 

Prior  to  July,  1919,  the  employment  for  the  New  York  Tele- 
phone Company  was  handled  locally  through  the  division  Super- 
intendents of  Traffic  in  co-operation  w^ith  the  Advertising  and 
Publicity  Departments  and  the  Training  Schools,  and  ordinarily 
there  was  a  waiting  list  of  girls  who  wished  to  become  telephone 
operators.  This  is  still  true  in  some  parts  of  the  State  at  the 
present  time.  In  Albany,  for  instance,  there  were  50  girls  on  tbo 
waiting  list  in  January  of  this  year.  In  New  York  City,  however, 
the  situation  had  become  so  serious  by  July  of  last  year  that  the 
employment  work  was  separated  from  the  Training  School  and 
made  into  a  department,  with  an  Employment  Manager  in  charge. 

In  September,  1919,  the  main  employment  office  for  operators 
at  1158  Broadway  wa-s  opened,  after  some  $5,600  had  been  spent 
on  remodeling  and  furnishing  the  necessary  rooms.  A  staff  of 
seven  are  employed  at  this  office,  where  everything  has  been 
arranged  to  show  the  applicants  who  come  in  that  telephone 
operating  is  an  attractive  occupation. 

The  policy  of  the  Employment  Department  has  been  one  made 
necessary  by  the  desperate  need  of  the  Company  —  a  policy  of 
securing  operators  at  any  cost,  by  any  legitimate  means.  No 
money  has  been  spared.  Few  experiments  in  systems  of  advertis- 
ing, bonus  plans,  etc.,  have  been  left  untried.  The  Employment 
Department,  created  because  of  the  serious  situation  due  to  a 
shortage  in  operators,  has  had  that  unhappy  problem  of  attempting 
to  meet  ever  increasing  difficulties.  With  the  public  clamoring 
on  one  hand  for  better  service,  with  operators  constantly  and 
increasingly  leaving,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Employment  Depart- 
ment has  had  to  struggle  somehow  to  meet  the  situation  as  best  it 
might,  and  its  course  has  not  been  an  easy  one.    By  February  first 

[11] 


■,— 1f;-ii«j<U.-ii 


12 

the  Department  was  maintaining  six  offices  not  ,•„<.!„ J-       .l 

recruiting  through  the  Co™  '  ,  ''   "'^"'^^'^^S,   and 

ing  staff  of  ov°  S  ^  '  employees.    A  special  recruit- 

whil         ^     ?      ""PP'''^*  **"'  ^*"^  established.     Every  due 
wh,ch  may  result  m  securing  a  new  operator  is  followed  u7 

When  one  takes  into  account  the  fact  that  the  head  of  th« 
Tram.ng  School  considers  a  girl  an  actual  cost    7..,    n 
until  she  has  been  with  it  at  le'a st  a  year  aldThat  the  t  "i"'"' 
neers  do  not  feel  that  a  girl  can  earr;  L^ompt J  f,  if^^ 

1  tne  r>gh  type  of  worker  seems  of  paramount  importance  With 
th  genera,  industrial  situation  such  as  it  has  bin  Td  is^nj 
with  the  former  wages  and  increases  offered  by  the  Telenb!„ 

were  giL  almo"^:  ,r^^^^^  "^^^  «^  '^^^^^  -^^  tests 

«ibie  i  seJct  fi  amonr;;:ir:7''"^^  r  •*  ^^^  ^'■ 

consideration  the  ones  best  fitted  fn^.  1     f    '  '"'^  '"^"'^^^  ''^^<'>- 
dition  of  social  pos;L    l^/lSd  C  ^  *^^" 

rounded  the  telephone  oj^rator  an'd  ^^t^XZ^^^" 

nun^r  ad  .ual^y  of  theTSiclt—It^ranl  X^ 
Of  the  applicants  now  l)einff  obtained  Kv  fbp  T.i  i,  .^  ^  ^ 
is  different  W  the  nnmbfr  and  oualUy  '^^;.^:^?^-\^^-P-y 
the  telephone  service  a  few  years  a^o     '       ^  ^"'^^^  "'^  ^^^^^^^ 

In  order  to  know  something  of  The  tvne  of  <rWi  i.  • 

P%ed  l,v  the  Telephone  Oo.p^.v,  tTjol^T^^^^^^  ?" 
considered  eligible  in  December  ^nd  117.7  ^PP^^^ants, 

the  Bnrean.    Almost  two-fifthrof  ^^^^^^^^^  ^^""  ^""^  ^^^  ^.- 

iwo-nitns  ot  these  girls  were  10  and  17  years 


13 

of  age,  and  71  per  eent  were  under  21.    Fifty-five  (55)  children 
of  14  and  15  years  of  age,  with  working  papers,  had  been  taken  on 
to  be  trained  to  become  operators,  usually  serving  as  messengers 
for  the  first  few  weeks.     Considering  the  youth  of  these  girls  and 
the  dasire  of  the  Company  to  secure  workers  direct  from  school, 
it  is  surprising  that  only  23  per  cent  applying  for  operator's  posi- 
tions had  never  worked  before.     The  industrial  experience  which 
the  77  per  cent  had  had,  however,  had  been  for  the  most  part  very 
short  and  of  a  changing  and  spasmodic  character.  The  largest  pro- 
portion of  these  girls  had  had  some  clerical  experience  and  a  num- 
ber almost  equally  large  had  done  factory  work.     About  15  per 
cent  had  worked  in  stores,  run  elevators,  been  domestic  servants, 
etc.,  and  12  per  eent— 9)9  — had  had  previous  experience  in 
telephone  operating. 

The  largest  single  group  of  the  girls  — 13  per  cent  — had 
received  at  their  last  work  $12  per  week,  which  was  the  starting 
wage  paid  by  the  Telephone  Company  at  the  time  they  applied. 
Twenty  per  cent  (20f^)  had  been  receiving  under  $12,  and  51 
per  cent  of  them  had  been  receiving  less  than  $15.00.  Only  5 
per  cent  had  earned  $18  or  more. 

Seven  hundred  and  fifty-two  (752)  of  the  girls  were  living  at 
home  or  with  relatives;  the  remaining  64  were  living  alone  or 
with  a  friend.     There  were  88  married  women  among  the  appli- 
cants, 14  of  whom  were  widows.    It  was  known  that  37  of  these 
applicants  had  children,  in  all  cases  young  children.     Seventy- 
four  (74)  of  the  88  had  definitely  asked  for  night  work  and  in 
many  cases  special  notes  were  found  on  the  applications  stating 
that  the  woman  wished  night  work  in  order  that  she  might  be 
free  during  the  day  to  attend  to  her  children  and  household  duties. 
Of  the  99  girls  who  had  had  previous  telephone  experience, 
more  than  half  had  been  telephone  operators  for  less  than  a  year! 
The  Company,  however,  is  making  a  special  effort  to  get  back  the 
girls  who  have  had  some  experience  and  it  hopes  to  be  able  to 
induce  an  increasing  number  of  girls  who  have  left  the  Telephone 
Company  to  return.     So  far  as  wage  scales  are  concerned  in  these 
cases,  the  Company's  policy  is  to  credit  the  girl  with  all  her  exper- 
ience if  she  has  been  away  from  the  Company  less  than  a  year. 
If  she  has  been  out  of  the  service  more  than  a  vear,  6  months 


14 

a-edit  f  rom  her  previous  service  period  is  deducted.  At  the  discre- 
lon  of  the  chief  operator,  a  girl  who  has  been  away  between  12  and 
15  months  may  be  credited  with  her  entire  experience.  Benefits  and 
anmversary  gifts  are  of  course,  aifected  by  any  break  in  service 
and  the  girl  is  obliged  to  "  begin  again." 

Br.  Kiehardson  has  stated  that  "concentration,  accuracy  self- 
con,..ol  and  c(H>rdination  "  axe  the  most  important  factors  t  effi- 
cient telephone  operating.  The  education  and  general  intelligence 
of  the  operators  is  therefore  significant. 

The  application  blanks  in  801  ca.es  contained  a  statement  made 
by  the  mtervievver  as  to  the  girl's  general  intelligence.  Five  hun- 
dred and  si^ty  (560)  times  this  general  intelligence  was  rated  as 

frn:  A  .  ™'^'  °l  ';/*  ^^  '''°'  °^  *^  *'^'^'  i*  ^««  questioned 
or  marked  as  doubtful,  and  in  55  cases  it  was  defixiitely  stated 
^at  the  girl  was  not  "  bright."  Only  27  times  were  the  applicants 
rated  as  good  "  as  to  their  intelligence.  Of  course  these  ratings 
vary  with  the  interviewer,  and  it  was  noted  that  in  some  cal 
an  applicant  who  had  been  turned  down  as  ineligible  by  one  inter- 
viewer, would  be  reconsidered  and  classed  as  "  eligible"  by  some- 
one  else.  *^  ov^im?- 

It  was  also  significant  that  in  a  large  number  of  cases  the  inter- 
viewers had  recommended  that  the  girl  return  and  re-apply  after 
some  minor  difficulty  had  been  adjusted,  such  as  securing  glasses 
for  some  minor  eye  trouble,  or  seeing  to  some  matter  of  clelnliness. 
Apparently  every  eifort  was  being  made  by  the  interviewers  to 
secure  whatever  material  seemed  possible. 

Oncean  applicant  has  been  rated  as  eligible,  everything  possible 

IS  done  to  have  her  enter  the  school  at  once.     Aside  from  former 

employers    a  reference  is  usually  desired  from  the  minister  or 

priest  of  the  girl^s  church.    A  reference  from  an  employee  of  the 

Company  is  considered  sufficient,  and  additional  information  in 

these  cases  is  seldom  secured.    Form  letters  are,  of  course,  sent  out 

in  many  instances  to  secure  recommendations,  but  often  the  replies 

o  those  do  not  come  in  until  sometime  after  the  girl  has  been 

])laced  in  the  training  school. 

The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  absolute  necessity  for  securing 
operatoi.  without  delay  has  governed  every  experiment  or  policy 
of  the  Employment  Department,  Girls  must  be  brought  into  the 


16 


service  of  the  Telephone  Company;  no  cost  in  efforts  to  secure 
them  is  too  great.  Once  secured,  they  must  be  pushed  into  the 
school  quickly  and  standards  which  at  a  more  normal  time  in  the 
employment  situation  of  the  Company  would  be  rigidly  upheld,  are 
modified  or  waived.  The  large  labor  turnover  in  the  training 
school  may  be  in  a  measure  accounted  for  by  the  attempt  to  try  out 
girls  whoso  ability  is  questioned  from  the  first,  to  make  the  neces- 
sary physical  examinations  after  the  girl  enters  training,  rather 
than  before,  and  to  secure  the  minimum  in  the  way  of  reference,  in 
order  to  save  time. 

Advertising, 

For  the  months  of  October,  November  and  December,  1919,  the 
Company  spent  in  "  help  wanted  "  advertisements  in  the  iNew 
York  daily  newspapers  $37,564.  Added  to  this,  it  spent,  over 
the  same  length  of  time,  $14,600  for  its  recruiting  system,  that  is 
sending  out  special  agents  to  recruit  girls  for  the  service.  The 
Company  also  paid,  during  the  same  period  of  time,  $1,125  as 
bonuses  to  the  people  in  their  employ  who  brought  in  new  workers. 
Five  hundred  and  fifty-four  (554)  days  off  were  given  to  em- 
ployees bringing  in  new  recruits,  which,  figured  at  about  $2.50  per 
day,  makes  this  cost  approximately  $1,385. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  Company  utilized  $3,200  worth  of  news- 
paper space  a  week,  fox  which  they  had  formerly  contracted,  which 
up  to  this  time  had  been  used  for  purposes  other  than  advertising 
for  help;  making  a  total  for  12  weeks  of  $28,400.  Thus  the  sum 
total  of  $93,074  was  spent  during  the  last  three  months  of  the 
year  1919  in  attempts  to  secure  operators. 

According  to  the  Company's  own  figures  for  these  same  three 
months,  the  total  acquisition  to  their  operating  force  was  592 
operators  —  gaining  1,549  to  their  force  and  losing  957. 

Newspaper  "  ads  "  is  one  of  the  most  common  and  successful 
methods  of  securing  young  and  unskilled  workers.  Its  greatest 
weakness  is  that  it  is  indiscriminating  and  entails  considerable 
expense  in  the  weeding  out  of  undesirable  applicants.  Thero 
were  19,862  applicants  in  the  year  1919.  Out  of  this  number, 
7,810,  or  less  than  one-half,  were  notified  to  report  for  training. 

Not  a  stone  has  been  left  unturned  by  the  Company  to  secure 


'■  ,'J> 


16 

operators.    A  large  sum  of  money  has  been  spent  and  the  number 

suisSuf  T?    Tf    7  "'^""'"^  '•PP^^'^*'"'^  '^^^^  ^-  highly 
su«;essiul.    The  outstandmg  weakness  has  been  the  lack  of  a  well 

dew  and  well-applied  policy  to  retain  the  girls  and  the  elb 

l^hment  of  a  goal  in  length  of  service  that  is  wLh;  :f  attatmrnJ." 

Ihnnitory, 

In  an  effort  to  increase  the  number  of  operators,  the  Telephone 
Company  entered  upon  a  policy  in  New  York  City  whtl  wal 
adopted  dunng  the  period  of  the  war  in  Washington  to  me^Th 
emergency  of  increased  traffie.     This  was  the  "  living  i„  "       . 
T^e  Cathedral  Dormitory  was  o^nj:ZTZ;,i::cIX 
and  opera  o,,  were  brought  to  New  York  from  up'state,  living  in 
the  dormuozy  entirely  at  the  expense  of  the  Compan;      tL  e 
perators  received  the  same  rate  of  pay  which  they  had  be'en  rie  " 
ng  for  woxk  up-state.     Although  in  the  majoritv  of  instTi 
this  rate  waa  lower  than  that  paid  the  New  York  City  g  rt^ 
taken  together  with  free  living,  it  became  a  wage  out  of  aU  prL 
portion  with  that  paid  the  regular  New  York  City  operato!L' 

Ihe   Company  spent  $14,313.95   in   alterations   to  make 'the 

bui  dm,  adaptable  for  dormitory  use;  $18,822.77  was  the" 

ncquwmg  the  dormitory  with  the  necessary  furniture,  making 

the    total    initial    expenditure    on    the    part    of    tl,«    A 

$33,196.72.  P  '''^    Company 

In  September  the  average  number  of  operators  accommodated 
in  the  dormitory  was  109;  in  October,  138;  in  November   1« 
and  in     ecember,  145.    Over  against  1Q9  a^commodaTed  b  sL 
tember  ^lere  was  a  total  expenditure  for  supervision,  m^^eelk- 
neous  and  house  service  of  $8,941.85 ;  in  October  over  a^ai  JTss 

Z^:z:  T  "'^"''"'^ "'  ''''''■''■'  "^  ^ov7mw  oJ!; 

against  155,  there  was  a  total  expenditure  of  $9,086.64;  and  in 
Dec^n^.  over  against   145,  there  wa«  a  total  'expenditure  :f 

the  $33,196.^2  spent  on  alterations  and  equipment   the  Com- 
pany^has  been  able  to  increase  its  operating  U  app'roxLatTy 

at  ^^  ;j:sc^-^  '^'  '^' '-'' '' ''''-''-'' 


17 


Employment  Standards. 

The  Company  definitely  desires  a  certain  type  of  girl  —  in  age 
she  should  be  between  16  and  23,  with  exceptions  for  night  work 
operators,  where  the  maximum  is  35.  The  Company  has  in  mind 
the  growing  policy  of  the  State  on  the  prohibition  of  night  work, 
particularly  for  younger  women,  and  is  endeavoring  to  raise  the 
age  of  night  workers  to  over  21  years.  Sixteen  (16)  is,  however, 
the  predominating  age  for  the  bulk  of  the  new  employees,  accord- 
ing to  actual  figures.  During  December,  1919,  for  instance,  of 
512  girls  who  reported  for  work,  409  were  21  years  of  age  or 
under.  So  far  as  experience  goes,  the  Company  much  prefers 
girls  who  come  direct  from  school,  without  industrial  experience. 
Such  girls  are  more  amenable  to  instruction  and  discipline,  and 
can  fit  into  the  Company's  organization  with  less  effort. 

The  Company  also  desires  girls  who  are  living  at  home,  and 
who  have  had  at  least  a  good  grammar  school  education. 

The  fact  that  the  average  telephone  operator  is  so  young  and 
so  inexperienced  has  undoubtedly  had  much  to  do  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  spirit  of  the  Company  toward  its  employees.  This 
spirit  is  of  great  significance  in  considering  the  problems  con- 
fronting the  Telephone  Company  at  the  present  time.  It  is  keenly 
felt  in  every  branch  of  the  service.  It  is  the  spirit  of  a  kindly 
guardian,  who  will  plan  what  is  best  for  those  under  his  care, 
down  to  the  minutest  detail.  From  the  moment  the  applicant 
enters  the  Training  School  she  is  made  conscious  that  she  has 
become  a  member  of  an  army  where  obedience,  loyalty,  and  appre- 
ciation are  expected.  Rest  periods  are  arranged  for  her,  her  meals 
are  planned,  and  she  is,  in  the  words  of  the  Company,  "  sheltered 
and  provided  with  every  comfort  and  convenience."  The  operator 
needs  ]ittle  initiative  at  the  switch  board  where  she  has  been 
drilled  in  set  phraseology,  and  even  in  the  tone  of  voice  which 
she  is  to  use.  Just  so,  initiative  is  at  a  discount  when  she  is  off 
duty,  for  her  needs  have  been  arranged  for,  and  are  adequately 
supplied.  She  is,  in  a  sense,  still  going  to  school  and  her  attitude 
is  that  of  the  school  girl.  She  is  part  of  an  institution  which 
publishes  a  paper  for  her,  gives  her  parties,  tells  her  what  she 
should  and  what  she  should  not  do. 

Young   persons    are   preferred   by   the    Telephone    Company 
because  of  the  greater  facility  with  which  they  learn  to  work  and 


-^..4. 


18 

acquire  dexterity,  and  because  their  reactions  are  much  quicker 
thap  the  reactions  of  older  girls.  Yet  the  years  16  to  23  are  those 
during  which  the  nervous  and  physical  system  of  a  woman  is 
peculiarly  sensitive  to  strain  and  susceptible  to  injury.  Injury 
sustained  at  this  time  of  life  is  apt  to  be  more  far-reaching  than 
would  l)e  the  effects  from  similar  causes  in  maturer  years.  The 
effects  upon  posterity  caused  by  undermining  or  weakening  the 
constitutions  of  these  young  women  gives  rise  to  serious 
consideration. 

In  connection  with  the  youth  of  the  operators,  attention  must 
also  be  called  to  the  fact  that  telephone  operating  does  not  seem 
to  fit  a  woman  for  any  other  occupation  or  calling.  Additional 
significance  is,  therefore,  to  be  given  to  the  fact  that  the  average 
time  spent  by  operators  in  the  service  is  from  2  to  3  years  and 
that  the  period  of  service  is  usually  given  at  the  time  when  a 
young  woman  is  best  able  to  learn  with  advantage  the  trade  or 
calling  which  is  to  put  her  in  the  way  of  acquiring  a  livelihood 
during  the  years  of  her  life. 

Training  School. 

In  the  Manhattan-Bronx  Division  of  the  New  York  Telephone 
Company  in  1902,  the  training  of  girls  for  telephone  service  was 
recognized  as  a  definite  problem  and  the  Training  School  was 
opened,  where  girls  were  given  a  carefully  planned  four  weeks' 
course  of  study  before  they  were  sent  to  central  offices.  This  was 
a  radical  change  from  the  former  system  of  training,  where  the 
girl  learned  as  best  she  could  from  her  fellow  workers  and  super- 
v^ors,  and  secured  her  training  by  working  directly  at  the  central 
office  positions. 

At  the  present  time  the  Training  School  for  New  York  and 
vicinity  is  in  New  York  City.  The  school  has  grown  so  that  it 
became  necessary  in  the  fall  of  1919  to  open  a  second  small  school 
m  Bowling  Green.  This  school  is  used,  however,  simply  as  an 
over-flow,  accommodating  at  the  most  but  100  students,  and  u 
tinder  the  supervision  of  the  Director  of  the  main  Training  School 
on  Houston  Street. 

The  school  staff  at  the  present  time  numbers  140,  10  of  whom 
are  doing  clerical  work  in  connection  with  the  school.    Fourteen 


19 


(14)  of  the  staff  are  designated  as  lecturers  and  the  balance  are 
instructors  in  the  practice  room.  The  training  staff  is  flexible  and 
interchangeable.  The  average  instructor  has  had  at  least  five 
years'  experience  with  the  Telephone  Company,  and  when  the 
entire  staff  is  not  needed  at  the  school,  the  instructors  are  used 
as  supervisors  in  the  central  offices,  but  remain  constantly  on  call. 

The  scliool  is  able  to  accommodate  500  students.  It  is  aimed  to 
tnake  the  classes  no  more  than  50  each,  and  in  the  practice  room 
each  group  oi  3  girls  has  a  special  supervisor  so  that  individual 
attention  and  special  help  is  possible. 

The  school  has  six  class  rooms  and  one  large  lecture  room.  The 
most  complete  possible  equipment  is  available  in  the  practice  and 
repetition  rooms,  where  the  girls  are  taught  the  actual  processes  of 
telephone  operating.  The  Company  furnishes  text  books,  and  the 
practice  work  on  the  switch  board  follows  each  day  the  text  book 
lesson  and  the  class  lecture.  The  girls  are  all  taught  at  the  present 
time  "A''  board  operating.  If  they  become  efficient  "A"  board  oper- 
ators it  is  a  simple  matter  for  them  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the 
"  B  "  board  work,  and  they  can  be  assigned  to  the  "  B  "  board  in 
the  central  offices  as  the  need  arises.  The  Company  is  now  work- 
ing out  a  special  text  book  on  "  B  "  board  operating  and  it  is  pos- 
sible that  in  the  near  future  special  training  will  be  given  for 
"  B  "  board  operators,  just  as  special  training  is  now  given  in 
"  long  distance  "  operating,  outside  'New  York  City.  In  ^N'ew  York 
City  and  vicinity,  the  "  long  distance  ''  work  is  at  the  present  time 
handled  entirely  by  the  American  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, and  consequently  the  training  work  of  the  New  York  Bell 
Telephone  Company  in  these  divisions  is  confined  to  local 
operating. 

The  only  lectures  coming  into  the  school  course  which  do  not 
bear  directly  on  the  technical  knowledge  necessary  to  telephone 
operating  are  the  lectures  given  by  the  Company  physicians  at 
the  training  school.  These  lectures  seem  of  particular  importance 
when  one  considers  the  needs  of  the  average  girl  who  is  now  a 
student  in  the  school,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  doctor  can 
meet  the  girls  only  once  a  week,  which  means  but  two  lectures  at 
the  present  time,  when  the  training  course  is  reduced  to  two  weeks. 
In  these  two  lectures  she  attempts  to  give  them  general  health 


20 

principles  in  the  n.ost  elementary  w..y.  8Lc  discusses  with  them 
the  care  of  the  sk.n,  questions  of  cleanliness,  and  the  unfortunate 
results  of  using  too  much  paint  and  powder.  Such  things  as  proper 
shoes  „,Hi  1  tting  are  considered,  and  she  tries  to  tell  th^ 
What  the  outstanding  essentials  of  healthful  living  are 

The  school  day  is  divided  into  periods  approximately  an  hour  in 
ength.  The  girls  assemble  between  8:30  and  ,9:00  a.  m.,  when 
the  first  period  begins.  After  an  hour's  lecture,  they  go  to  the 
practice  roo^  for  an  equal  period,  then  back  for  anoTher  lecture 
or  to  the  repetition  room.  The  day  continues  in  this  manner 
until  five  o  clock,  with  some  irregular  periods  due  to  appointments 
for  physical  examinations,  etc.    The  students  always  have  an  hour 

room  r  '       .  '  T^'l'  ^'""^  ''^'"  "^^  '  ''^  -<!  ----tion 
room  IS  provided  for  them. 

The  practice  room  is  equipped  for  84  students.     The  room 
gives  the  general  appearance  of  being  a  regular  central   office 

directr'  •:    T  "'S.  '^  ^^^  '^'"'''^  ^^'  ^^^^  -  -^  ^iealii 
directly  with  the  public.     The  board  positions  are  like  those  Z 

the  central   offices,   except  that  the  students   have  six  pairs   of 

down  behind  each  three  girls,  helping  them  make  the  necessary 
connections  and  correcting  them  when  they  make  mistakes.  Each 
student  IS  supplied  with  her  own  head-piece  and  she  keeps  in  her 
ocker  the  mouth-piece  which  she  uses.  These  mouth  pieces  are 
sterilized  at  the  end  of  each  week. 

of  It-  ^!l  '"  '^"  T^"''  ''""  ^^""^  '^''''^  instructors'  desks, 
of  which  there  are  fourteen.     In  this  way  the  calls  can  be  given 
m  as  rapid  succession  as  the  girl  is  able  to  handle  them  and 
can  be  of  a  type  which  will  drill  her  in  what  she  has  learned 
from  lee  ures  and  text  book.     It  is,  therefore,  possible  for  each 
gill  to  advance  as  fast  as  she  herself  can  master  the  work  which 
IS  a  great  advantage  when  the  need  is  so  great  and  the  training 
of  necessity,  is  superficial.     Each  girl  follows  through  her  classes 
with  the  same  lecturer  and  the  same  two  practice  room  instructors, 
and  this  also  makes  possible  a  certain  amount  of  individual  atten- 
tion and  understanding. 

The  repetition  room  is  equipped  for  30  students,  and  is  simplv 
a  practice  room  where  additional  training  can  be  given  in  help- 
ing the  students  to  find  the  numbers  on  the  boards  quickly 


21 

The  regular  length  of  the  training  course  has  always  been  four 
weeks,  but  unfoilunately,  because  of  the  shortage  of  operators, 
this  has  had  to  be  shortened  to  two  w^eeks,  which  means  that  at 
the  present  time  only  the  fundamental  knowledge  essential  to  the 
simplest  form  of  local  operating  can  be  taught  in  the  school.  With 
the  four  weeks'  course,  it  was  possible  to  instruct  the  girls  regard- 
ing irregularities  in  making  connections,  "busy"  calls,  "don't 
answer  "  calls,  etc.,  now  only  actual  0.  K.  calls  are  considered, 
and  the  training  deals  with  the  most  elementary  knowledge  and 
leaves  all  questions  involving  complications  to  tlie  central  office 
instructors. 

The  method  of  teaching  is  extremely  simple  and  resembles  that 
of  a  primary  school.  The  girls  are  seldom  called  on  as  individuals, 
except  when  they  read  in  turn  paragraph  by  paragraph  from  the 
text  book.  The  atmosphere  and  discipline  is  that  of  elementary- 
school  rooms,  and  all  explanations  are  made  in  the  simplest  forms 
possible.  The  lecturer  is  furnished  with  every  possible  help  in 
the  way  of  blackboards,  model  telephones  and  switch  boards,  etc. 
FoT  the  most  pai-t,  the  girls  answer  in  concert  to  questions  asked, 
or  repeat  the  standard  phrase  after  the  lecturer.  Their  so-called 
study  periods,  when  they  work  from  the  text  book,  are  supervised 
by  the  lecturer  Avho  explains  each  paragraph'  of  the  text  book  as 
it  is  read. 

The  work  in  the  practice  room  is  considered  the  important 
part  of  the  training.  There  the  girl  is  actually  in  contact  with 
the  connecting  cords  and  the  whole  apparatus  with  which  she  is 
to  deal  when  she  becomes  a  regular  telephone  operator.  The  lec- 
tures and  class  instruction  are  used  to  make  possible  and  clear 
this  practice  work  and  to  vary  the  strain  and  fatigue  which  would 
eventually  result  should  an  inexperienced  girl  be  kept  in  the  prac- 
tice room  too  long  at  a  time.  She  must  gradually  get  used  to 
switching  her  head-piece,  which  is  supposed  to  be  changed  every 
half  hour  from  ear  to  ear,  and  she  must  adjust  herself  to  the  new 
sounds  and  strains  which  come  to  her  when  she  enters  the  tele- 
phone industry. 

To  the  girl  who  comes  direct  from  school,  the  method  of  train- 
ing must  seem  logical  and  the  discipline  natural.  Bells  sound  at 
the  end  of  each  period,  girls  march  from  room  to  room  in  an 
orderly  manner,  there  is  constant  supervision  by  a  teacher  and  the 


22 

constant  giggling  and  foolery  of  elementary  school  girls.  It  is  easy 
to  understand,  however,  how  the  older  girl,  who  ha^  worked  in 
other  industries,  would  find  it  difficult  to  adjust  herself  to  this 
atmosphere. 

The  training  school  in  New   York   City  accepts   as  students 
Long  Island  and  Westchester  girls,  as  well  as  those  from  Man- 
hattan,  Brooklyn  and   the  Bronx.      This  means  that  a  certain 
percentage  of  the  expenses  of  the  training  school  —  29.1  per  cent 
in  the  case  of  Long  Island,  and  2.1  per  cent  in  the  case  of  West- 
chester— is  charged  to  the  different  division  offices.    The  salaries 
of  the  students  while  in  training  —  now  $15  per  week  —  are  also 
charged  to  the  expenses  of  the  training  school.     During  1919, 
the  total  cost  of  maintaining  this  school  equalled  $382,070.85. 
Excluding  students'  salaries,  the  portion  charged  to  the  Manhat- 
tan-Bionx  Division  for  maintaining  the  training  department  for 
the  year  was  $111,985.14.     This  item  included  their  portion  of 
the  salaries  and  wages  of  the  school  staff  and  of  a  second  miscel- 
laneous  item,  of  which  the  largest  amount  went  for  advertising 
since  much  of  the  advertising  and  printing  done  by  the  Employ- 
ment Department  is  still  charged  to  the  training  school  account. 

The  very  short  period  of  training  now  given  in  the  school  has 
made  necessary  the  extension  of  training  to  the  central  offices.  A 
plan  was  originated  some  eight  months  ago,  and  has  gradually 
developed  since  that  time,  whereby  the  students  are  placed  under 
special  central  office  instructors  when  they  leave  the  school.     The 
plan  started  with  one  instructor  at  each  central  office,  but  this 
has  been  increased  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  students  placed 
in  the  different  exchanges.     The  plan  has  been  so  successful  and 
has  proven  so  conclusively  the  need  for  special  supervision  after 
the  student  leaves  the  school,  that  it  is  now  planned  to  continue 
having  central  office  instructors  for  the  new  operators  even  when 
It  IS  possible  to  return  to  the  original  four  weeks'  course  in  the 
training  school.    At  the  present  time  there  are  72  on  the  instruc- 
tion force  in  the  central  offices.     The  instructors  rank  above  the 
ordinary  supervising  force  in  the  central  offices,  and  the  average 
salary  of  an  instructor  is  $25.50  per  week.    The  maximum  salary 
possible  for  her  is  set  at  $29.     For  the  week  ending  January  17, 
1920,  the  cost  of  maintaining  this  central  office  instruction  force 


23 


amounted  to  $1,620.47.     This  cost  is  divided  between  the  offices 
and  charged  to  the  regular  central  office  accounts. 

In  the  estimate  foj  the  coming  year,  the  Company  is  preparing 
to  enlarge  this  instruction  force  to  140  in  order  to  meet  the  needs 
of  a  student  body  estimated  for  the  year  1920  at  7,000. 

Up-State, 

The  methods  of  training  used  throughout  the  state  vary  so, 
according  to  the  number  of  students  and  pressure  of  work,  that 
it  is  impossible  to  consider  them  in  detail.  Training  schools 
similar  to  the  l^ew  York  school,  but  on  a  smaller  scale  are  main- 
tained in  the  larger  cities  such  as  Albany  and  Kochester.  In  cer- 
tain cases,  however,  girls  from  these  centers  are  sent  to  IN'ew  York 
to  receive  special  training  in  order  to  become  chief  operators  or 
to  fill  some  particular  position.  These  smaller  training  schools 
send  out  instructojs  to  nearby  cities  when  the  situation  seems  to 
warrant  this.  At  the  present  time  a  special  instructor  from  the 
Albany  training  school  is  working  with  a  group  of  girls  in  the 
Schenectady  exchange. 

The  number  of  students  and  instructors  and  the  equipment 
for  training  purposes  varies  in  the  different  schools.  In  the 
smaller  towns  and  where  the  contract  system  is  in  operation, 
girls  are  still  trained  by  their  fellow  workers  at  regular  operating 
positions. 

Because  of  tlie  close  connection  between  the  employment  prob- 
lem and  the  question  of  training  the  situation  throughout  the 
state  is  very  different  from  that  which  exists  in  ^ew  York  City. 
Just  as  in  the  case  of  labor  turnover,  inefficient  service,  and  the 
other  difficulties  now  confronting  the  Telephone  Company,  the 
crux  of  the  matter  is  found  in  conditions  in  !N'ew  York  City  where 
industrial  upheavals  are  centered.  When  we  consider  the  efforts 
of  the  Employment  Department  to  secure  telephone  operators  for 
Manhattan,  and  the  type  of  applicant  who  is  now  classed  as  eligible, 
we  begin  to  realize  some  of  the  difficulties  which  are  confronting 
the  staff  of  the  training  school  in  their  attempt  to  make  efficient 
operators  out  of,  too  often,  obviously  poor  material. 


y ! 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION 

The  Operating  Force, 

hattrr!  ""  n'  ^'''\^''^'^^^>  1910,  shows  that  in  the  Man- 
hatta^-Evonx  Division  there  were  4,H4  day  operators,  2,205  even- 

7  T:T'  ''.'  "'^''  °P^'-^*°^^'  -^^-g  «  total  o    7  152  T 
the  Westchester  Division  there  were  210  day  operators   43  even 

Long  Island  Division  there  were  1,200  day  operators,  1,407  even- 

2  ZZ:i      '■  ""'.*  °^"'^^°^^'  '"^^''^  ^  ^'^^'^^  "^  2  ^^r  In 

«l2     -Tr"  *'"'  ""^  *''  ^^^  •'P^-t-'  438  evening 
operatois,  02  night  operators,  making  a  total  of  938.    In  the  Oe^ 

tT'^itZ^D^rretei ;:?  ^^^  ^'^^^  t^^-  ^^ 

onerator,   9^6  .  '^''^  operators,  733  evening 

operators,  236  night  operators,  making  a  total  of  1,708     In  the 

mu^  th'T  "^i""""'  "'''='  '"'^'"'^-  «*^*-  Island  aid 
must  therefore  be  taken  into  consideration,  but  which  also 
mcludes  suburban  New  Jersey,  there  were  884  day  opeTatot  887 
evening  operators,  250  night  operators,  making  a  toSTfoso 
Therefore  in  what  is  the  New  York  Telephone  Company  TiL 
operating  force  for  the  month  of  November  there  were  8  263  dav 
operators,  6  373  evening  operators  and  1,856  night  Ipera Ss  mal' 

m  l^CVTf  ''''''  T-*-     The  split  tHck  oTiat^'s 
lau  either  in  the  day  or  evening  group. 

The    industry    is    necessarily    continuous    for    the    mibli,. 

oi  Wn  ^^PP^  '^''  ''  "'"  1^"°^^  ^h''"  to  expect  the  Jeak 
of  the  oad"  in  each  central  office.  In  other  wVds  it  must 
know  that  the  down-town  business  district  of  New  York  01^! 
busiest  between  10  -00  and  1 9  -no  ;     ^u  ■  ^ 

4-30  Jr.  fin.    ff  ?  ""  *^^  mormng  and  2:30  and 

In  nearly  all  telephone  offices  the  operating  force  is  divided 
into  four  divisions  or  shifts  -  day,  evening,  nifht  and  split  S 


25 


It  is  tlie  universal  policy  to  have  employees  in  any  exchange, 
except  the  all-night  operators,  come  in  a  few  at  a  time  so  that 
the  change  at  the  switch  board  will  be  made  gradually  and  with- 
out interruption  of  service.  Although  definite  hours  will  not  be 
discussed  here,  the  following  general  definition  of  operators  may  be 
assumed  for  the  different  shifts: 

Day  operator  (basic  8  hour  day)  —  an  operator  who  begins 
work  not  earlier  than  7 :00  a.  m.  and  stops  not  later  than  7 :00 
p.  m. 

Evening  operator  (basic  7  hour  day)  —  an  operator  who  begins 
work  not  eai-lier  than  11:30  a.  m.  and  ends  not  later  than  11:00 
p.  m. 

Split  trick  operator  (basic  7  hour  day)  —  an  operator  whose 
work  is  separated  into  two  divisions  by  a  period  of  more  than 
two  hours  and  not  more  than  five  hours. 

Night  operator  (basic  8  hour  day)  —  an  operator  whose  work 
begins  not  earlier  than  7  :00  p.  m.  and  ends  not  later  than  7 :00 
a.  m. 

The  New  York  Telephone  Company,  in  so  far  as  is  practicable, 
permits  the  operators  to  select  the  exchange  in  which  they  will 
work,  and  makes  every  reasonable  effort  to  get  girls  into  exchanges 
near  their  homes.  The  split  trick  operators  who  live  farther  than 
ten  blocks  from  their  exchanges  are  paid  10  cents  car  fare  per 
day  to  allow  them  to  go  home  between  swings.  A  choice  of  tricks 
or  operating  shifts  is  very  often  granted  to  girls,  although  this 
depends,  of  course,  on  the  need  of  operators  and  it  also  depends 
upon  the  co-operative  spirit  of  the  supervisors.  There  seems  to 
be  no  general  rule  of  the  Company  about  the  length  of  time  a 
girl  shall  work  on  a  particular  shift. 

The  most  difficult  trick  to  fill  is  the  evening  trick,  which  for  the 
most  part  breaks  into  the  girl's  afternoon  and  takes  up  the  whole 
or  part  of  her  evening.  Oirls  of  the  age  of  telephone  operators 
quite  naturally  wish  their  evenings  free  for  recreation.  The 
Telephone  Company  has  offered  special  inducement  to  evening 
operators  by  placing  their  evening  trick  on  a  basic  7  hour  day 
and  paying  $1.00  more  than  to  day  operators. 

Strange  to  say,  the  split  trick  is  very  popular  among  telephone 
operators.     One  of  the  favorites  is  working  all  morning,  off  all 


I 


I 


26 

afternoon  coming  on  duty  about  5:00  or  6:00  p.  m.  and  workinL^ 
until  8:00  or  9:00  p.  m.  This  gives  the  girl  practically  all  her 
afternoons  and  evenings  free.  Many  of  the  girls  on  the  spht 
tricks  testify  that  it  is  a  great  physical  relief  to  have  anywhere 
from  two  to  five  hours  off  between  swings,  that  physically  they 

The  most  unpopular  shifts  are  naturally  the  ones  which  call  for 
baturday  afternoon  or  Sunday  work,  as  Saturday  afternoon  and 
Sundy  IS  the  tn„e  when  the  girls'  friends  are  free  and  ha.  come 
to  be  thought  of  as  the  play  time  of  working  men  and  women. 
It  IS  oxtromoly  hard  foi-  the  telephone  operator  on  duty  that  after- 
noon to  be  content  with  her  "lot.     Sunday  employment  is  divided 
among  the  operators.     In  some  exchanges  where  the  traffic  is 
light  on  Sunday,  as  for  instance  those  in  the  down-town  business 
section,  the  operators  take  turns  working  on  Sunday  and  it  may 
mean  working  only  every  fifteenth  week.     In  other  exchanges, 
where  the  Sunday  "  load  "  is  heavy,  such  as  the  up-town  apartment- 
house  districts,  an  operator  may  be  on  duty  once  or  twice  a  month. 
Ih.s,  too,  IS  regarded  as  a  hardship  by  the  operators,  even  though 
time  and  a  half  is  paid  for  the  first  Sunday  and  double  tin.e  for 
bundays  m  excess  of  one  in  any  calendar  month,  and  manv  em- 
ployees leave  the  Telephone  Company  for  no  other  reason  than 
that  It  means  Saturday  afternoon  and  Sunday  work 

Whilo  numbers  of  the  night  and  evening 'operators  change  to 
the  day  force,  those  dropping  out  of  the  day  force  drop  out  of  the 
service  altogether,  except  for  the  few  going  into  suix-rvisorv 
groups.  ' 

It  is  not  difficult  to  find  operators  who  have  left  the  Telephone 
Company  and  gone  into  private  exchanges  or  into  other  work  not 
that  the  new  work  always  offers  better  opportunities  or  higher 
wages  but  that  they  are  free  from  Saturday  afternoon  and  Sun- 
day labor.  A  corresponding  day  off  during  the  week,  even  though 
It  brings  rest  and  relaxation,  is  in  no  way  fully  compensates  for 
feunday  work. 

Loading, 

o.r'''  iTTT  ""^""'^  •^'"'  ^^'-  ^'^^^'^''^^^'^'^  at  Madison  Square 
0500,  call  Beekman  3000  is  something  like  this:  taking  do^vn 
your  receiver  ^^auses  a  small  light  to  flash  at  number  9500  in 


27 

front  oi  an  "A"  board  operator  in  the  Madison  Square  central 
office.    The  operator  takes  up  an  inside  cord,  known  as  an  answer- 
ing cord,  inserts  the  plug  beneath  the  lamp  signal,  opens  the  cor- 
responding listening  key  which  is  toward  the  face  of  the  switch- 
board, thus  putting  out  the  light  and  permitting  her  to  talk  to  the 
subscriber.     Central  says  "  .Number  please  "  and  you  say  "  Beek- 
man 3000."    The  operator  then  closes  the  listening  key  and  presses 
a  small  key  marked  "  Beekman,"  which  is  on  her  table  board. 
The  "A"  board  operator  at  the  Madison  Square  exchange  is  in 
this  way  connected  with  a  "  B  "  board  operator  at  the  Beekman 
exchange,  and  the  Madison  Square  "A"  board  operator  gives  the 
"  B  "  board  operator  at  the  Beekman  exchange  the  Beekman  num- 
ber.    The  "  B  "  board  operator  at  the  Beekman  exchange  then 
assigns  to  the  "A"  board  operator  of  the  Madison  Square  exchange 
a  trunk  line  number,  as,  for  example,  trunk  line  30.    The  "  B  " 
board  operator  at  the  Beekman  exchange  puts  a  plug,  which  is 
numbered  as  trunk  30,   into  Beekman   3000   and  the  Madison 
Square  "A"  board  operator  takes  the  connecting  cord  correspond- 
ing to  the  answering  cord  connected  with  Madison  Square  9500 
and  places  it  in  trunk  line  30,  closes  the  listening  key  and  the 
connection  is  made.  When  both  parties  are  through  talking  and 
hang  the  receivers  on  the  hook  a  light  flashes  on  the  disconnected 
signal  of  the  "A"  board  operator,  who  disconnects  by  taking  down 
first  the  inside  cord,  then  the  outside  cord.     The  removal  of  the 
outside  cord  by  the  "A"  board  operator  at  Madison  Square  gives 
a  disconnect  signal  to  the  "  B. "  board  operator  at  the  Beekman 
exchange,  who  takes  down  the  trunk  line  cord  and  returns  it  to  its 
original  position.    The  "A"  board  operator,  thei-efore,  in  making 
a  connection  under  normal  conditions,  with  everything  favorable, 
must  go  through  fourteen  processes  in  order  to  complete  a  call. 

In  smaller  cities  it  is  not  necessary  to  have  the  "  B  "  board, 
as  the  majority  of  local  calls  can  be  completed  on  the  "A"  board, 
and  therefore  the  work  is  less  complicated  and  the  human  factor 
does  not  play  so  large  a  part  in  the  service. 

While  considering  the  operations  necessary  to  complete  a  call,  it 
is  significant  to  bear  in  mind  the  number  of  calls  a  a  hour  which 
an  operator  can  handle  efficiently.  The  engineers  in  the  Traffic  De- 
partment have  fixed  230  units  per  hour  as  the  theoretical  "  load." 


i 


28 

This  is  applicable  ou  the  "A"  board  with  all  positions  filled     The 

Sr  r  '"''"  "''''^'"^  *^^*  ^  g-1  ^  *he  empW  of  the 
Telephone  Company  for  one  month  is  able  to  car^  whhreasln- 
able  proficiency  25 '/o  of  this  load;  that  a  «rl  i/flT  o 

months  is  able  to  carry  54%  •  that  a  lir   in^h  '""''''"  ^ 

is  able  to  carry  Tof^^hat  a  ^irlL  thT Lrvict^TT:!'  "°t^ 

to  carry  90% ;  that  a  girl  in  the  servir^Tonth         K    !  "  ^  '' 
^aa%     Th;  1-  ^  i'crvice  ^^  months  is  able  to  carry 

unS  1?  f*/°"«^^««P«'«'  they  fiugure  that  a  girl  can  carry  230 
units  per  hour  with  reasonable  proficiency  after  bein„  in   .1, 
ernploy  of  the  Company  18  months'    In  muhi'S,  cYt2  si  a 

w  ws  onteSrbr:!^:!;;?  ^^^^  ^^"^  ^-^"^  *^^ 


Cortlandt 

246 
John 

254 

261 

228 
Murray  Hill 

257 
Longacre 

182 

Rhinelander 
258 

243 

232 

Forsyth 
239 


Stuyvesant 
284 

213 

Columbus 

231 
Lenox 

230 


Harlem 

202 
Rector 

232 
Canal 

264 
Chelsea 

270 


Fordham 
233 

Cathedral 
212 

Melrose 
203 

183 


183 

259  218 

229  195 

277  208 

G-«-^                  ^c*„.W^  ^„^„j^ 

'"'                             266  2J4 

260  170 

C^rcU                       Wadsimrm  Olenville 

232                          224  180 


Two  hurjdred  and  thirty  (230)  units  do  not  mean  230  calls 
For  example,  a  connection  between  a  subscriber  of  the  MadTson 
Square  exchange  and  Beekman  would  be  1.55  units  but  a  all 
from  a  pay  station,  where  money  would  have  to  be  'returned"" 
he  call  was  not  made,  would  be  1.70  units.  As  will  be  noted  from 
the  above  figures,  the  load  carried  by  the  operators  during  he  bu" 


29 


hour  is  often  in  excess  of  the  theoretical  "  load  "  established  by 
the  engineers  in  the  Traffic  Department  irrespective,  in  most  in- 
stances, of  the  length  of  service  of  the  operator.  This  is  one 
explanation  of  the  inadequate  and  inefficient  service  that  the  public 
has  been  receiving  during  the  past  few  months. 

In  the  matter  of  efficiency  of  service  rendered  it  is  the  experi- 
ence of  the  Company  that  an  "  under-load  "  is  almost  as  bad  as 
an  "  over-load ; ''  that  unless  an  operator  has  enough  to  keep  her 
busy  she  is  inclined  to  do  poorly  the  little  she  has  to  do.  Operators 
very  generally  agree  with  the  management  on  this  point. 

The  standards  were  worked  out,  so  far  as  can  be  learned,  solely 
by  the  Traffic  Department.  Apparently  the  emphasis  has  been 
placed  largely  on  the  degree  of  efficiency  and  speed  possible  trom 
each  position,  and  little  consideration  has  been  given  to  the  human 
element.  The  scientific  measurement  of  fatigue  of  the  operator 
should  certainly  be  considered  in  relation  to  scientific  measure- 
ment of  a  possible  "  load."  Though  it  is  true  that  the  ordinary 
methods  of  measuring  fatigue  are  of  little  value  in  the  telephone 
industry  because  of  the  large  personal  factor  involved  —  the  pos- 
sible emotional  strain  from  dea-lings  with  irritable  subscribers, 
uncongenial  supervision,  etc. —  these  very  difficulties  make  the 
study  of  the  problem  all  the  more  essential. 

The  work  of  telephone  operating  under  any  conditions  entails 
some  strain  on  the  nervous  system;  the  faculties  axe  kept  con- 
stantly on  the  alert,  there  is  high  tension  on  the  special  senses, 
and  a  certain  amount  of  mental  worry.  The  strain  is  in  propor- 
tin  to  the  nervous  force  exhausted,  and  exhaustion  is  a  matter 
only  of  degree  depending  upon  the  duration  and  intensity  of 
employment.  Telephone  operating  differs  from  most  other  occu- 
pations in  which  women  are  employed  in  its  call  on  the  special 
senses  of  sight,  of  hearing  and  of  speech.  Even  when  not  actually 
busy,  operators  are  not  resting  or  relaxing,  because  they  are  neces- 
sarily on  the  alert. 

The  Telephone  Company  has  tried  to  overcome  the  physical 
strain  of  continuous  sitting  by  allowing  the  girls  to  stand  at  inter- 
vals. It  has  also  tried  to  reduce  the  physical  strain  of  stretching 
and  reaching  by  limiting  the  size  of  the  board  which  the  girls 
operate.    In  a  sense,  these  efforts  have  been  successful. 


30 

The  liability  of  injury  from  shock,  the  harsh  words  and  abuse 
from  telephone  users,  the  intense  strain  due  to  the  constant  flash- 
ing of  the  lights  by  impatient  subscribers,  the  sense  of  crowding 
when  work  accumulates,  and  the  inevitable  anxiety  in  seeking  to 
make  the  necessary  connection  whenever  a  rush  takes  place  all 
combine  to  accentuate  the  strain  of  the  work,  and  are  all  factors 
more  or  less  absent  in  other  callings  in  which  women  are  enga-ed 

The  question  of  "  loading "  and  the  physical  strain  upon  the 
worker  should  be  most  carefully  considered  in  connection  with 
the  hours  of  work  of  the  operator. 

Bask  Hours  of  Labor  vs.  Actiml  Working  Hours 

The  double  heading  of  this  section  suggests  the  complexity  of 
the  problem  of  liours  in  the  telephone  industry. 

In  considering  the  matter  of  overtime,  it  m^ust  be  remembered 
that  operators  are  supposed  to  have  one  day's  rest  in  seven. 
For  operators  on  the  day  and  night  shifts,  overtime  means  any 
time  worked  over  8  hours  a  day  or  night  for  six  days  a  week. 
For  operators  on  the  evening  and  split  tricks,  overtime  means  any 
time  worked  beyond  7  hours  six  days  a  week. 

It  must  be  understood  that  all  switch  board  employees  on  a 

given  shift  do  not  come  to  their  work  at  the  same  time,  work  a 

given  time,  take  their  lunch  at  the  same  time  and  then  return 

and  work  until  the  same  quitting  time  as  do  emplovees  in  most 

other  industries.     They  come  on  one  or  two  at  a  time,  get  their 

relief  periods  at  different  times,  have  different  hours  for  lunch 

and  get  off  at  different  hours.     For  this  reason,  while  the  basic 

hours  of  labor  might  be  the  same  for  all,  the  actual  working  hours 

would  be  very  different  for  the  different  employees  on  the  same 

shift. 

The  number  of  operators  required  in  an  excliange  at  a  given 
time  depends  largely  upon  the  "  load  "  that  the  particular  ex- 
change carries  during  certain  hours  of  the  day.  For  example,  the 
doivn-town  business  district  requires  eveiy  position  filled  from 
10 :00  to  12 :00  in  the  morning  and.  from  2 :00  to  4 :30  in  the 
afternoon,  but  requires  very  little  evening  service  and  next  to  no 
night  service.  Just  the  reverse  might  be  true  of  a  suburban 
district. 


PERCENTAGES    OF    OPERATORS   WORKING    OR   NOT    WORKING    OVERTIME 


OPERATORS    HAVING    PERFECT 
ATTENDANCE 


OPERATORS    HAVING    IMPERFECT 
ATTENDANCE 


TOTAL    OPERATORS 


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The  number  of  split  trick  operators  in  the  State  of  Xew  York 
is  indicative  of  the  fluctuation  of  ^'  loads,"  since  the  number  of 
split  trick  operators  in  the  different  localities  depends  largely  upon 
the  "  loads  ''  the  various  exchanges  carry  at  certain  times  of  the 
day.  In  ^N^ew  York  City,  according  to  figures  sent  in  from  the 
exchanges,  about  6%  of  the  operators  are  split  trick  operators. 
The  number  of  split  trick  operators  throughout  the  rest  of  the 
State  is  considerably  larger.  In  Brooklyn  and  Queens  about 
27%%  are  split  trick  operators,  while  in  the  western  division 
231/2%,  and  in  the  Westchester  Division  about  31%  are  split  trick 
operatojs. 

Taking  as  a  basis  of  computation  12,156*  operators  studied  by 
the  Bureau,  29.84%  of  the  total  operating  force  worked  overtime 
during  the  week  ending  December  13,  1919.  In  general,  a  little 
over  one-fourth  of  the  operating  force  in  New  York  State  worked 
some  overtime. 

The  amount  of  overtime  varied  considerably  in  the  different 
localities.  In  the  Manhattan  Division  (Schedule  I),  30%  of  the 
operating  force  worked  beyond  their  regular  assignment  of  hours ; 
in  Brooklyn  and  lower  Bronx  (Schedule  II),  51.65%.  Under 
Schedule  III,  which  includes  part  of  Westchester  and  Long  Island, 
31.8%  of  the  operating  force  worked  beyond  their  regular  assign- 
ment of  hours.  Under  Schedule  IV,  which  includes  Albany,  Buf- 
falo, Little  Falls,  Syracuse  and  Utica,  10.46%  of  the  operating 
force  worked  beyond  their  regular  assignment  of  hours.  Under 
Schedule  V,  which  includes  Auburn,  Binghamton,  Dunkirk, 
Ithaca  and  Watertown,  6.4%  of  the  operating  force  worked  beyond 
their  regular  assignment  of  hours.  Under  Schedule  VI,  which 
includes  Bayshore,  Canandaigua,  Geneva,  Glens  Falls,  Hunting- 
ton and  Hornell,  8.55%  of  the  operating  force  worked  beyond 
their  regular  assignment  of  hours. 

The  highest  peak  of  overtime  for  the  entire  State  is  reached 
by  the  number  of  operators  (35.76%)  who  worked  from  3  to  6 
hours  beyond  their  regular  assignment.  The  next  highest  peak 
(35.02%)  is  reached  by  those  operators  who  worked  from  6  to  9 
hours  beyond  their  regular  assignment. 


•  The   records  of  170   operators  presented  difficulties  in   interpretation   of   time 
worked. 


32 


The  largest  amount  of  overtime  existed  among  the  evening 
operators,  of  whom  2,381  worked  overtime  as  against  1,035  dav 
operators  and  211  night  operators. 

In  discussing  the  matter  of  hours  in  the  New  York  Telephone 
Company,  it  must  also  be  remembered  that  while  the  48-hour 
week  IS  considered  as  the  basic  work  week,  about  one-fourth  of 
Jhe  workers  work  a  44-haur  week,  having  Saturday  afternoon  free 
The  operators  who  work  Saturday  afternoon  are  practically  paid 
double  time  for  any  time  worked  beyond  the  44  hours.  The  Com- 
pany does  this  fully  cognizant  of  the  unattractivcness  of  Saturday 
afternoon  labor. 

The  Telephone  Company  has  gone  farther  than  many  other 
industries  in  the  State  in  the  reduction  of  its  basic  work  day 
from  ,9  to  8  hours,  and  in  the  case  of  evening  and  split  trick  shuts 
from  9  to  7  hours;  but  the  fact  that  over  one-fourth  of  the  opera- 
tors in  New  York  State  work  beyond  their  regular  assignment  of 
hours  IS  indicative  of  a  weakness  in  the  labor  policy  of  the 
Company. 

In  the  testimony  of  the  Royal  Commission  of  Toronto,  Canada 
physicians  recommended  that  the  telephone  operators  should  have 
a  work  day  of  7  hours,  spread  over  a  9  hour  period,  and  that  this 
time  should  be  divided  as  follows: 

2      hours  work  —  %  hour  relief 
1%  hours  work  — %  hour  intermission 
2      hours  work  —  %  hour  relief 
1%  hours  work 

They  testified  further,  however,  that  this  was  simply  a  compro 
mise  and  that  a  7  hour  working  day  would  still  be  too  long  for 
telephone  operators.  The  working  day  should  eventually  te  re- 
duced to  fi  hours  actual  labor,  spread  over  a  period  of  from  8  to 
8%  hours. 

It  was  not  possible  for  the  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry  in 
the  short  time  allotted  to  it,  to  make  any  scientific  study  from\he 
point  of  view  of  fatigue  and  its  relation  to  the  working  hours  of 
the  operators.  The  Bureau  is  convinced,  however,  as  a  result  of 
this  study,  that  the  actual  working  hours  of  the  operator  should 
be  considerably  reduced.  The  Company  might  well  begin  tiring 
to  eliminate  entirely  its  overtime  work.     With  almost  one-fourth 


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of  the  operating  force  throughout  the  State  working  some  time 
beyond  their  reguhir  assignment,  and  with  the  strain  and  nervous 
tension  involved  in  telephone  operating,  the  firfet  step  which  the 
Telephone  Ompany  should  take  in  improving  the  morale  of  its 
force  and  the  efficiency  of  its  service  is  to  eliminate  all  overtime. 

One  Day's  Best  in  Seven 

The  policy  of  the  Telephone  Company  is  that  all  workers  shall 
have  one  day's  rest  in  seven.  Decause  of  the  continuity  of  the 
service,  it  is  necessary  for  a  certain  percentage  of  the  operators  to 
work  on  Simday,  but  it  has  been  the  custom  of  the  Company  to 
give  those  operators  a  corresponding  day  off  during  the  week. 

For  the  week  ending  December  13,  1919,  about  2.3%  of  the 
operating  force  in  New  York  State  worked  the  full  seven  day 
week,  and  an  additional  .91%  of  the  operators  worked  more  than 
six  days  but  less  than  seven  days.  This  brings  the  total  percentage 
of  the  entire  operating  force  who  worked  more  than  six  days  a 
week  up  to  about  3.21%.  The  largest  number  of  operators  who 
worked  a  full  seven  day  week  was  on  the  day  shift  in  the  Man- 
hattan Division. 

Seven  day  labor  is  one  which  has  long  been  condemned  as  bad 
business  policy,  and  the  Telephone  Company  is  making  every 
effort  to  reduce  it  to  a  minimum.  Xo  operator  under  any  circum- 
stances should  be  asked  to  work  seven  davs  in  succession  without 
any  break.  An  outstanding  feature  is  that  while  2.3%  of  the 
operating  force  worked  seven  days  a  week  and  .91%  worked  from 
six  to  seven  days,  59.94%  worked  a  full  six  day  week.  This 
included  night  work  operators  whose  regular  hours  are  eight  hours 
six  days  a  week.  Considering  the  practice  of  many  of  the  large 
industrial  establishments  throughout  the  State  is  to  give  not  only 
one  day's  rest  in  seven,  but  one  and  a  half  days  off  (Saturday 
afternoon  and  Sunday),  the  fact  that  63.07%'  of  the  total  operat- 
ing force  worked  a  full  six  day  week  or  more  is  very  significant, 
and  doubtless  is  a  contributing  factor  to  the  labor  turnover  of  the 
Telephone  Company.  Seven  day  labor  also  tends  to  increase  ab- 
senteeism and  lost  time,  especially  among  workers  as  youthful  as 
telephone  operators  and  where  the  work  is  so  exacting.  Seven 
day  labor  should  be  abolished. 


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Absenteeism 

In  discussing  the  question  of  absenteeism,  it  must  be  bome  in 
mind  that  there  are  certain  causes  of  absence  which  are  mainly 
unavoidable,  such  as  home  duties,  conditions  of  transportation 
and  illness.    On  the  other  hand,  absence  due  to  fatigue,  prolonged 

hours  or  insufficient  wage  incentive,  could  be  prevented  in  a  large 
part.  ^ 

The  week  ending  December  13,  1919,  which  was  the  typical 
week  chosen  by  the  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry  and  the  Tele- 
phone Company  on  which  to  base  this  study,  was  one  in  which  the 
weather  was  not  over  severe  nor  was  there  an  epidemic  of  any 
kind.    If  the  accpted  unit  of  absence  —  one  day  —  is  used   it  is 
possible  to  determine  the  amount  of  absence  in  the  oj^rating' force 
by  finding  what  percentage  the  absentees  are  of  the  number  of 
persons  expected  to  work.     On  Monday,  December  8th,  8.62% 
of  the  total  operating  force  in  New  York  State  was  absent  from 
work.     On  Tuesday,  December  9th,  6.90%  of  the  total  operating 
force  m  New  York  State  was  absent  from  work.    On  Wednesday 
December  10th,  6.98%  of  the  total  operating  force  in  New  York 
State  was  absent  from  work.     The  amount  of  absenteeism  in  the 
Telephone  Company,  assuming  these  days  to  be  typical,  is  higher 
than  in  many  other  industries,  5%  absenteeism  being  considered 
usual. 

As  a  result  of  absence  among  the  telephone  operating  force  for 
the  week  ending  December  13th,  35.260+  productive  hours 
were  lost  out  of  a  total  of  533,136  hours,  or  6.61%.  According 
to  geographical  division,  the  greatest  amount  of  absenteeism 
occurred  under  Schedule  III,  made  up  largely  of  such  cities  as 
Albany,  Buffalo,  Rochester,  Syracuse,  which  shows  that  7.56% 
of  productive  hours  was  lost  as  a  result  of  absenteeism.  The 
Manhattan  Division  of  New  York  City  lost  6.91%  of  productive 
hours. 

The  highest  peak  of  lost  time  for  the  week  ending  December 
13th  was  reached  by  those  operators  who  lost  from  one  to  two 
days ;  the  peak  next  in  height  was  reached  by  those  operators  who 
were  absent  the  entire  week. 


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35 

One  of  the  significant  features  of  the  study  of  absenteeism  and 
broken  time  shows  that  out  of  2,480  instances  88.87%  were  not 
paid  for,  with  11.13%  having  been  paid*  for.  In  the  case  of  the 
11.13%  where  pay  was  received,  it  was  undoubtedly  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  Telephone  Company  pays  sickness  benefits. 

BroJcen  Time 

In  discussing  broken  time,  it  must  be  said  that  broken  time 
means  any  time  less  than  one  day  and  more  than  one  hour  of  the 
regular  hours  an  operator  is  expected  to  work.  The  amount  of 
productive  hours  lost  as  a  result  of  broken  time  was  .46%  of  the 
total  hours.     This  percentage  is  for  exchanges  all  over  the  State. 

Assuming  that  the  work  of  De<?ember  13th  is  a  typical  week, 
inefiiciency  of  the  service  during  the  past  year  has  doubtless  been 
due  in  part  to  the  amount  of  absenteeism  among  the  operators. 

The  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry  would  recommend  that  the 
Telephone  Company  keep  careful  record  of  absenteeism  and 
broken  time  with  the  idea  of  reducing  them  to  the  minimum. 
Even  when  the  Company  pays  the  wage  of  the  girl  who  is  absent, 
it  is  not  fulfilling  its  obligation  to  the  public  unless  it  considerably 
reduces  its  controllable  absenteeism  a-mong  operators. 

Wages 

Three  groups  of  operators,  since  the  Bureau  of  Women  in 
Industry  started  the  study  of  the  telephone  industry,  have  had 
their  wage  rates  increased.  A  comparative  table  on  the  follow- 
ing page  compares  the  wage  rates  for  the  year  1919  with  the 
new  rates. 

In  general,  the  first  increase  affected  only  Greater  New  York 
and  raised  the  minimum  wage  from  $12.00  to  $15.00  and  the 
maximum  rate  $1.00.  The  next  increase  was  made  for  the  opera- 
tors longer  in  the  service  and  increased  the  maximum  $2.00.  The 
third  increase  was  applicable  to  the  other  exchanges  throughout 
the  State. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  these  wages  are  basic  rates.  The 
actual  earnings  of  the  majority  of  operators  are  higher  than  the 
basic  wage  rates  in  so  far  as  operators  are  paid  time  and  a  half 
for  overtime  and  Sunday  work  and  extra  for  Saturday  afternoon. 


If 


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Authokized  Wage  Schedule  for  Opekatoks 
Approved  Fehru<iry  21,  1920  —  Effective  February  8,  1020 

JCIonhattan^  Bronx.  Brooklyn        '^'^^:[^I^''' 

Period  of  serviro  New  Old  ^         New  0\d~^    ^l^^^T^—^^ 

T'r.'. ^^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^^^  $1100  $13  00  $10  00 

End  0    1  month 15  50  12  50  14  50  1150  13  50  10  50 

End  of  3  months 16  OO  13  00  15  00  12  00  14  00  11  oo 

Md  of  6  months it}  50  13  50  15  50  12  50  14  50  11  50 

End  of  9  months 17  00  14  00  16  00  13  00  15  00  12  00 

End  o    12  months 18  00  15  00  17  00  14  00  10  00  13  00 

End  of  24  months 19  00       16  00       18  00       15  00       17  00       14  00 

End  o    30  months 19  00       10  00       16  00       18  00       15  00 

End  of  36  months 20  00       17  00       20  00       17  00       19  00       16  00 

f"^  1  rn  ""'"!!!' ^'^^       ''^      2'^       ^8  00      20  00       17  00 

End  of  60  months 22  00       19  00      22  00       19  00      21  00       18  OO 

End  of  72  months 23  00       20  00       23  00      20  00      22  00       19  00 

Senior    operator  —  maxi- 

,."''''". 24  00       2100      24  00      2100      23  00      20  00 

Supervisor   —   maximum       27  '00       24  00       27  00       24  00       26  00       23  00 

The  above  rates  are  for  day  operatinft  employpes 
Evening  operating  employees  r^eive  ?1  OO^more  per  week 
^ight   operating  employees   receive  |3  00   more  per  w^k 

Authorized  Wage  Schedule  Effective  March  7,  1920 

Upstate   Offices 

^^'S  Atev^"'*"      ^  «^^1!"  ®i*?^  P^»«^         Smaller  Places 
SvrtJusi   R^fff«ln  f  "k*"  *"  Kingston.  Such  as  CatskiU. 

Syracuse.  Buffalo         Auburn,  Lockport  Geneva,  Genese^ 

o  X.      ,  ^^"^  ^^^  New  Old  New      '       oid"" 

t'^T'. ^^^^     ^'^^     ^^^^       ^^^     $10  00       $8  00 

End  of  1  month 12  50      10  50       1150        9  50      10  50        8  50 

End  of  3  months 13  00       1100       12  00       10  00       11  00        9  00 

End  o    6  months 13  50       11  50       12  50       10  50       11  50        9  50 

End  of     2  months 15  00       13  OO       14  00       12  00       13  00       11  00 

End  of  24  months 16  00       14  00       15  00       13  00       i4  00       12  00 

End  of  36  months 17  00       15  00       16  00       14  00       15  00       13  00 

End  of  60  months 19  00      17  00       18  00      16  00      17  00       15  00 

^^'^^^^^ 2000       19  00       ....  18  00 

Supervisors    23  OO       22  00       21  oo       .'.'.■.'.' 

The  above  rates  are  for  day  operating  employees. 

Evening    operating   employees    receive^ $1.00    mo?^   per   week 

Night  operating  employees  reecive  $3.00  more  peV  week 

o.v^Ar'rro^^r.^Tz^  s^h^e^dJiraUis^ro  'ixhr-  ^"*  ^^^  -^  --^"^ 

operators  receive  a   $2.00  differentia?.  rotating  operators  and  night 


In  ■-»■ 


■]GompariSon    o|    Earnings    in  ScKedu  fo- 


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37 


In  the  table  showing  the  actual  earnings  of  the  operators,  which 
includes  overtime  earnings,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  highest  group 
was  in  the  Manhattan  Division,  where  538  operators'  earnings 
were  from  $18.00  to  $19.00.  In  the  Manhattan  Division  (Sched- 
ule I),  beginning  at  $9.00,  the  schedule  shows  a  gradual  increase 
up  to  the  538  group  and  a  decrease  after  the  538  group  is 
reached.  For  Brooklyn  and  lower  Bronx  (schedule  II),  the  high- 
est earning  peak  was  reached  by  the  $16.00  to  $17.00  group,  329 
operators  receiving  this  amount.  In  Schedule  III,  including 
lower  Bronx,  part  of  Westchester  and  Long  Island,  the  highest 
earning  peak  was  reached  by  the  $16.00  to  $17.00  group,  where 
105  operators  received  this  amount.  Under  Schedule  IV,  includ- 
ing the  larger  up-state  cities,  the  highest  earning  peak  w^as  reached 
by  289  operators  who  came  under  the  $15.00  to  $16.00  group. 
Under  Schedule  V,  including  such  places  as  Binghamton,  Dun- 
kirk and  Elmira,  the  highest  earning  group  is  reached  also  in  the 
$15.00  to  $16.00,  95  operators  receiving  this  amount.  Under 
Schedule  VI,  including  the  smaller  cities,  56  received  $16.00  to 
$17.00,  which  was  the  highest  earning  peak. 

Based  on  a  grand  total  of  10,731  operators  —  which  figure  ex- 
cluded 188  operators  whose  earnings  were  unknown  and  1,407 
operators  whose  earnings  could  not  be  considered  typical  as 
absence  made  their  earnings  below  the  basic  wage  —  the  earnings 
fell  like  this: 

336  received  under  $12.00. 

1,983  received  between  $12.00  and  $15.00. 

2,997  received  between  $15.00  and  $18.00. 

2,485  received  between  $18.t)0  and  $21.00. 

1,976  received  between  $21.00  and  $25.00. 

After  the  $25.00  mark  is  reached,  there  is  a  gradual  decline, 
only  110  persons  on  the  operating  force  earning  as  high  as  $30.00 
per  week. 

The  Telephone  Company  by  the  increase  in  wages  removed  the 
weakest  spot  in  its  employment  policy.  There  is  no  doubt  in  the 
mind  of  the  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry  that  the  low  wage 
rates  and  consequent  low  earning  capacity  of  the  operators  had 
much  to  do  during  the  year  191.9  with  the  Company's  high  la]x)r 
turnover  resulting  in  inefficient  service. 


m 


71,Tlf-?f«^!fS., 


38 

The  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry,  however,  believes  that  the 
Telephone  Company  has  not  gone  so  far  as  it  should  on  wage 
increase  and  other  increases  will  be  necessary  if  it  hopes  to  retain 
a  permanent,  well-organized,  well-disciplined  force.  The  Bureau 
would  not  quibble  with  the  Telephone  Company  over  its  minimum 
wage  rate,  {rdthough  the  minimum  wage  rate  of  telephone  operators 
under  the  United  States  Railroad  Administration  is  $70.00  per 
month,  something  over  $16.00  a  week.  The  Bureau  believes,  how- 
ever, that  the  maximum  rate  is  still  too  low  and  that  the  rate  of 
promotion  is  all  too  slow. 

In  comparing  the  wage  rates  of  the  Telephone  Company  with 
those  of  other  industries  that  require  the  same  qualifications  and 
same  standards  of  efficiency,  other  employees  can  reach  the  maxi- 
mum wage  offered  by  the  Telephone  Company  in  a  much  shorter 
time  and  know  that  their  wages  will  be  increased  in  fair  propor- 
tion to  their  length  of  service.  Since  the  biggest  a-sset  which  the 
Telephone  Company  has  is  the  operator  who  remains  with  it  longer 
than  two  years,  a  greater  wage  incentive  should  be  placed  before 
the  girl  as  an  inducement  to  remain  with  the  Company.  Further- 
more, that  a  girl  should  reach  her  maximum  earning  capacity, 
except  for  the  few  who  become  chief  operators  or  supervisors,  after 
she  has  been  with  the  Company  six  years,  which  in  many  instances 
may  be  when  she  has  reached  the  age  of  22  or  25,  is  indeed  dis- 
couraging to  any  worker  and  implies  poor  knowledge  of  psychology 
on  the  part  of  the  Telephone  Company. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  the  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry  that  if 
promotions  were  made  more  rapid  and  the  maximum  wage  made 
higher,  the  Telephone  Company  could  retain  in  its  service  a  very 
much  larger  percentage  of  trained  operators,  thus  reducing  the 
cost  of  training  operators  and  eliminating  that  large  cost  which 
now  appears  on  the  books  of  the  Company. 

In  New  York  State  an  increase  such  as  made  by  the  Telephone 
Company  within  the  last  few  months  was  an  absolute  necessity  if 
the  Company  was  to  maintain  its  service,  for  without  an  increase 
in  wages,  operators  could  not  be  obtained  or  retained,  and  without 
operators  the  service  could  not  l)c  kept  up.  The  wages  of  the 
operators  were  raised  at  an  estimated  annual  cost  of  $2,900,000.00. 
It  is  not  within  the  province  of  the  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry 


Trr-iH!fn^3^rT 


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39 

to.  know  whether  further  wage  increase  should  mean  an  increase 
in  telephone  rates;  but  the  Bureau  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  cost 
to  the  Company  of  its  high  labor  turnover,  of  its  advertising,  of 
its  training  of  operators  and  the  actual  loss  to  the  Company  of 
the  shoi-t-time  operator  could  for  the  most  part  be  eliminated 
with  higher  wage  rates  for  longer  service.  The  company,  during 
the  year  1919,  apparently  was  blind  to  its  real  labor  difficulty, 
and  the  increase  in  wage  rates  as  effective  in  February  may  prove 
conclusively  to  the  Company  that  something  mere  than  a  living 
wage  must  be  paid  to  operators  if  the  efficiency  of  its  service  is  to 
be  maintained. 

Labor  Turnover  and  Length  of  Service 

For  every  three  girls  who  enter  the  telephone  service,  one  drops 
out  in  training,  the  second  before  the  first  year  is  over  and  the 
third  stays  longer  than  a  year.  Since  the  estimated  cost  of  train- 
ing an  operator  varies  from  $68.00  to  $100.00  per  operator,  the 
shorter  the  length  of  service  of  the  operator  the  greater  expense 
to  the  Company.  Also,  since  an  operator  must  be  in  the  service 
of  the  Company  two  years  before  she  can  efficiently  carry  the 
theoretical  load  of  230  units  per  hour,  the  kind  of  service  which 
the  public  receives  depends  very  considerably  on  the  length  of 
service  of  the  operators. 

Briefly  speaking,  this  is  an  element  which  the  Company  cannot 
altogether  cc  ntrol,  though,  so  far  as  the  question  of  wages,  age  at 
beginning  work,  opportunities  for  promotion,  fatigue  and  sym- 
pathetic treatment  of  employees  enters  into  the  problem,  the 
answer  lies  with  the  Company.  Other  elements,  like  that  of  mar- 
riage, are  beyond  its  control. 

In  the  city  of  Manhattan,  24.33%  of  the  operators  had  been 
with  the  Company  6  months  or  less.  This  is  exclusive  of  students 
in  the  Training  School.  What  this  means,  interpreted  in  terms 
of  service  which  the  public  receives  from  the  operators,  is  that 
these  operators  are  able  to  handle  efficiently  about  75%  of  the 
theoretical  load  of  230  units  per  hour.  While  about  24.33% 
of  the  operators  had  been  with  the  Company  less  than  6  months, 
the  next  largest  per  cent  is  among  the  operators  who  had  been 
with  the  Company  over  6  months  and  through  1  year,  13.68% ; 


II 


I 


40 


and  the  next  largest  group  had  been  with  the  Company  over  1 
year  and  through  2  years,  12.37%.  In  other  words,  slightly  over 
one-half  of  the  operating  force  in  Manhattan  had  been  with  the 
Company  less  than  2  years.  The  situation  of  the  Telephone 
Company,  therefore,  resolves  itself  into  the  fact  that  the  important 
element  in  determining  the  efficiency  of  the  service,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  operator,  rests  absolutely  on  the  length  of  service 
in  the  occupation. 

Under  Schedule  II,  which  includes  Brooklyn  and  Queens,  we 
hnd  a  still  larger  i>er  cent  of  the  oi>erators  had  been  with  the  Com- 
pany 6  months  or  less,  28.22%;  with  15.61%  with  the  Company 
over  6  months  and  through  1  year,  and  10.60%  with  the  Coni- 
pany  over  1  year  and  through  2  years,  making  a  total  of  54.43% 
who  had  been  with  the  Company  less  than  2  years. 

Under  Schedule  III,  which  includes  part  of  Westchester  and 
Long  Island,  23.89%  of  the  operators  had  been  with  the  Company 
for  6  months  or  under,  12.23%  had  been  with  the  Company  over 
6  months  and  through  1  year,  and  18.47%  had  been  with  the 
Company  over  1  year  and  through  2  years,  making  a  total  of 
54.60%  of  the  operators  who  had  been  with  the  Company  less 
than  2  vears. 

Uudcr  Schedule  IV,  which  includes  such  places  as  Albany, 
Buffalo,  SyrHcuse,  Little  Falls  and  Utica,  there  was  17.20% 
of  the  operators  who  had  been  with  the  Compfmy  6  months  or 
under,  !>.C7%  for  over  6  months  and  through  1  vear,  and  19.49% 
for  over  1  year  and  through  2  years,  making  a  total  of  46.35% 
of  the  operators  in  the  larger  cities  of  the  State  who  had  been 
with  the  Company  2  years  or  less. 

Under  Schedule  V,  which  includes  Auburn,  Binghamton,  Dun- 
kirk, Itha<'a,  Poughkeepsie  and  Watertown,  11.95%  of  the  opera- 
tors had  been  with  the  Company  G  months  or  under,  11.20%  over 
6  months  and  through  1  year,  and  18.74%  over  1  year  and  through 
2  years,  making  a  total  of  41.88%  of  the  operators  who  had  been 
with  the  Company  less  than  2  years. 

Under  Schedule  VI,  including  such  places  as  Bayshore,  Canan  • 
daigua,  Geneva,  Glens  Falls.  Huntington.  Hornell  and  vSonth- 
ampton,  9.92%  of  the  operators  had  been  with  the  Companv  C 
months  or  under,  7.14%  had  been  with  the  Company  over  6 


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41 


months  and  through  1  year,  and  2(3.79%  had  been  with  the  Uom« 
pany  over  1  year  and  through  2  years,  making  a  total  of  43.82% 
of  the  operators  who  had  been  witli  the  Company  less  than  2  years. 
In  short,  50.1%  of  the  total  operating  force  in  New  York  State 
had  been  with  the  Company  2  years  or  less. 

It  is  significant  to  note  that  the  largest  per  cent  of  the  operators 
who  had  been  with  the  Company  less  than  2  years  was  in  the 
Brooklyn  and  Queens  Division,  and  that  Manhattan  ranked  next, 
with  a  gradual  decrease  in  the  number  of  those  with  less  than  2 
years'  service  in  the  smaller  cities. 

It  is  also  very  significant  to  note  that  in  the  Manhattan  and 
Brooklyn  Divisions  pra-ctically  three-fourths  of  the  operators  had 
been  with  the  Company  less  than  5  years.  The  fact  that  the 
Company  does  not  increase  its  wage  rate  after  5  or  6  years  of 
service  may  account  to  a  considerable  degree  for  three-fourths  of 
the  ojierators  leaving  after  the  fifth  year.  This  percentage  drops 
in  the  smaller  cities,  except  under  Schedule  III,  which  includes 
such  cities  as  K^ew  Rochelle  and  Mt.  Vernon,  where  it  is  slightly 
higher  than  in  Manhattan  and  Brooklyn.  Since  the  differences 
in  the  percentages  vary  so  very  slightly,  it  is  impossible  to  place 
a  finger  on  what  contributes  toward  this  difference,  but  the  signifi- 
cant thing  is  that  the  difference  between  the  larger  cities  and 
smaller  cities  is  not  great  enough  to  constitute  any  vital  difference 
and  the  problem  of  the  Telephone  Company  throughout  the  entire 
State  is  in  retaining  operators  beyond  the  2-year  period. 

There  wore  2,675  resignations  from  the  force  during  1919. 
Of  these  928  had  been  with  the  Company  3  months  or  less,  and 
1,704  had  been  with  the  Company  less  than  1  year.  Assuming 
that  the  efficiency  rating  of  the  Company  is  correct,  these  operators 
have  actually  been  an  expense  to  the  Company.  This  being  the 
ease,  it  would  seem  that  the  Company  could  afford  to  spend  a 
considerable  amount  of  money  annually  to  make  service  with  the 
Company  increasingly  attractive,  and  make  it  in  the  future,  as 
it  ha-s  been  in  the  past,  one  of  the  most  aristocratic  classes  of  labor 
in  which  women  are  employed. 

It  was  the  lowest  paid  and  short-service  girls  who  left  the  serv- 
ice of  the  Company  in  1919.  Of  the  3,224  girls  who  left  the 
Company  (2,675  resignations,  186  dismissals  and  363  transfers, 


I 


St^^ls^issSi^T'mgimTm 


42 

pensions  and  deceased)  2,148  or  66.6%  had  a  basic  wage  of  less 
than  $15.00  per  week.  During  the  year  1919,  5,858  operators 
were  added  to  the  force;  3,224  was  the  total  loss  in  the  operating 
force  for  the  sanie  period. 

The  alleged  causes  for  resigning  as  given  by  the  3,224  girls 

were  as  follows : 

Resignations 

Marriage   398 

Home   duties    379 

Return  to   school m 

Leave  city    107 

Disability  58 

Take  P.  B.  X 334 

Other  employment t 433 

Hours  of  work   433 

Wages   12 

Other   working  conditions 308 

Discouraged   or    indifferent 7 

Miscellaneous   91 

Keason  not  obtained 4 

Total 2,675 

Dismissals 

Poor    attendance    10 

Poor  work   30 

Violation  of  rules 14 

Disobedience 5 

Undesirable  19 

Miscellaneous 108 

Total 186 

Transferred,  pensioned  and  deceased 363 

Total    3,224 


From  the  table  it  will  be  noted  that  the  marriage  rate  among 
telephone  operators  is  high.  That  398  should  leave  the  telephone 
service  to  marry  is  quite  a  normal  proportion  where  so  many  girls 
of  a  marriageable  age  are  employed.  The  most  significant  reasons 
why  girls  left  the  Company  are  under  the  headings  of  "  Other 
Employment"  433,  and  "Hours  of  Work"  433.  "Home 
Duties  '*  is  the  reason  given  by  379  girls,  and  308  girls  gave  the 
reason  for  leaving  as  "  Other  Work  Conditions ;  "  while  334  left 


I  >- 


43 


to  take  positions  on  private  switch  boards.  That  334  should  leave 
to  take  positions  on  private  switch  boards  is  a  natural  advance. 
The  pay  of  the  private  switch  board  operator  is  higher  than  in  the 
Telephone  Company,  the  hours  are  more  regular,  with  Saturday 
afternoon  and  Sunday  free,  and  the  Telephone  Company  itself 
believes  that  when  girls  leave  the  Company  to  go  to  private  switch 
boards  it  increases  the  efficiency  of  its  own  system. 

The  most  vital  problem  that  the  Xew  York  Telephone  Company 
has  is  the  short  service  of  its  operators  and  the  high  labor  turnover 
resulting.  It  is,  of  course,  recognized  that  the  year  1919  was  an 
abnormal  year,  with  industry  all  over  the  country  in  a  more  or 
less  unsettled  state,  and  the  Telephone  Company  has  so  far  been 
unsuccessful  in  the  efforts  which  it  has  made  to  materially  reduce 
its  labor  turnover  and  to  stop  the  ever  increasing  flow  of  girls  out 
from  its  employ. 

The  labor  turnover  records  kept  by  the  Company  cannot  be 
taken  too  seriously,  as  many  of  the  girls  fail  to  give  their  real 
reason  for  leaving.  According  to  the  Company's  records,  but  12 
girls  out  of  2,675  gave  "  inadequate  wages  "  a-s  a  reason  for  leav- 
ing. Yet  the  fact  that  two-thirds  of  these  girls  were  receiving 
less  than  $15.00  a  week  when  they  left  the  Company  is  in  itself 
a  clear  indication  that  wage  conditions  actually  played  a  large 
part  in  causing  loss  among  the  operating  force.  Again,  379  leav- 
ing for  "  Home  Duties  "  and  308  leaving  for  "  Other  Work  Con- 
ditions "  may  mean  anything.  These  figures  unless  more  carefully 
analyzed  are  of  no  help  whatever  in  securing  a  real  picture  of  the 
Company's  problem.  The  Company's  system  of  receiving  and 
recording  the  reasons  for  leaving  is  not  one  which  will  bring  from 
the  girl  the  real  truth.  If  a  girl  is  to  leave  the  Company  she  talks 
first  to  the  chief  operator  and  tells  her  of  her  reasons  for  leaving. 
The  chief  operator  cannot  be  a  good  chief  operator  and  employ- 
ment manager  at  the  same  time.  If  a  girl  has  worked  under  a 
chief  operator  for  any  length  of  time  she  is  not  likely  to  tell  her 
the  real  reason,  if  it  at  all  reflects  n]>on  the  Company.  If  the 
reason  is  one  that  reflects  on  the  chief  operator,  it  is  that  much 
more  difficult  to  get  at  the  truth. 

The  reason  given  by  about  25  girls,  interviewed  by  the  Bureau 
of  Women  in  Industry,  who  have  left  the  telephone  service  and 


!♦ 


i  tiinaawM^'*' 


44 

bave  now  taken  other  positions,  is  a  lack  of  co-operation  betwc>en 
the  supervising  and  the  operating  force.     Nowhere  in  the  labor 
turnover  record  is  there  an  opportunity  for  recording  such  a  cause, 
and  yet  this  is  one  which  might  bo  very  easily  remedied  by  the 
Company  if  it  were  cognizant  of  this  lack  of  co-operation.     Many 
of  the  operators  complain  of  the  strict  discipline  and  the  lack 
of  sympathy  and  understanding  of  the  supervising  force  with  the 
operating  force.     Naturally,  a  girl  would  not  complain  of  this 
to  her  chief  operator.     Some  girls  interviewed  by  the  Bureau 
of  Women  in  Industry,  have  reported  that  they  left  because  they 
could  not  get  on  well  with  their  supervisors.     This  might  not  have 
been  the  fault  of  either  the  operator  or  the  supervisor.     It  might 
have  been  simply  a  clash  of  personalities.    Here  is  a  group  of  girls 
leaving,  whom  the  Company  have  taken  in  and  trained  at  great 
expense,  and  who  could  easily  have  been  retained  by  means  of  an 
intelligent  and  understanding  system  of  inten^ewing.     If  some 
system  of  transferring  girls  from  one  supervisor  to  another  were 
inaugurated,  a  certain  percentage  of  the  Company's  losses  would 
be  eliminated.     In  other  words,  it  should  be  the  function  of  a 
well-organized  and  equipped  department  to  interview  girls  as  they 
contemplate  leaving,  to  try  to  adjust  grievances,  having  the  power 
to  transfer,  etc.     This  might  well  be  done  by  the  Employment 
Department,  and  in  this  way  that  Department  would  have  a  much 
clearer  understanding  and  vision  of  the  elements  that  enter  into 
the  job  of  an  operator.    By  a  sympathetic  and  understanding  inter- 
view by  an  impartial  person,  adjustment  might  be  made  very 
readily.     Anyone  who  has  worked  with  girls  of  the  age  of  tnosc 
employed  by  the  Telephone  Company  will  not  doubt  the  statement 
that  girls  most  often  leave  their  work  for  reasons  which  can  be 
very  easily  adjusted,  if  understood.     After  eveiy  effort  has  ])een 
made  to  retain  the  girl,  the  causes  of  grievances  and  of  leaving 
should  be  carefully  analyzed  and  the  Company  would  then  have 
a  picture  of  the  main  problems  of  turnover  that  confront  it.    This 
picture  of  mal-adjustment  will  indicate  remedies  in  some  instances, 
and  in  others  it  will  direct  further  study.     The  underlying  canse 
should  be  sought  out  and   removed  whenever  possible.      In   the 
Telephone^    rom])any,   where   the  traininij  of   an   operator   is   so 
expensive  to  the  Company  and  where  she  does  not  reach  the  point 


45 

of  greatest  usefulness  until  she  has  been  with  the  Company  two 
years,  too  much  effort  cannot  be  made  to  retain  an  operator  once 
she  is  employcxl.  The  method  which  the  Telephone  Company  em- 
ploys along  this  line  is  indeed  archaic. 

The  students  loss  for  the  year  1910  was  33.7%  of  the 
total  number  of  students,  that  is,  approximately  one-third  of  the 
students  who  entered  for  training  never  finished.  Since  the  cost 
to  the  Company  of  training  students  varies  anywhere  from  $68 
to  $100  per  student,  the  cost  of  the  one-third  of  the  students  who 
were  lost  during  the  year  1919  amounted  to  a  considerable  sum. 

In  connection  with  the  loss  in  the  training  school  one  must 
consider  the  Telephone  Company's  policy  of  selection.  Many 
girls  during  the  past  year  have  been  induced  to  apply  to  the  Tele- 
phone Company  by  the  Company's  fascinating  advertisements. 
Of  course,  in  their  policy  of  selection  even  the  most  careful 
scrutiny  will  not  reveal  in  all  instances  that  a  girl  is  unable  to 
qualify  as  an  operator.  The  Company  during  the  past  year,  owing 
to  the  shortage  of  workers,  has  been  neccessarily  less  careful  in  its 
selection.  It  w^as  practically  willing  to  try  out  anyone,  while 
previously  it  was  able  to  pick  and  choose  only  the  best.  This 
accounts  in  part  for  the  large  turnover  among  its  students. 

Of  the  2,373  students  in  the  past  year,  837  resigned.  The  most 
significant  reasons  given  are: 

Left  to  take  other  employment 109 

Complained  of  hours  of  work ill 

Complained  of  "  other   working  conditions  " 190 


1,536  students  were  dismissed;  831  for  poor  attendance,  and  618 
came  under  the  miscellaneous  group.  In  analyzing  the  miscella- 
neous group,  we  find  that  463  of  this  number  were  physically 
unfit.  More  careful  and  thorough  medical  examinations,  tests  of 
the  sight  and  hearing,  given  before  the  girl  is  taken  on  for  train- 
ing, might  liave  reduced  considerably  the  number  of  students  dis- 
missed because  of  the  physical  unfitness. 

While  up  until  this  past  year,  the  ^NTew  York  City  Telephone 
Company  has  always  had  a  w^aiting  list  from  which  it  could  pick 
and  choose,  this  past  year  has  seen  it  with  an  actual  shortage  of 
from  700  to  1,000  operators,  a  fact  which  has  necessitated  frantic 


I 


':a^iSr_?«a=fc: 


46 

advertising  for  help.  They  have  not  secured  as  high  a  standard 
of  workers  as  in  the  past,  which  has  also  reacted  on  the  efficiency 
of  the  service.  The  officers  of  the  Telephone  Company  have 
always  taken  a  just  pride  in  the  type  of  operator  which  it  secured 
fostering  a  tradition  that  it  was  a  privilege  to  be  employed  by  the 
Telephone  Company. 

The  war  changed  the  status  of  the  industrial  woman,  created 
new  standards  and  opened  up  new  opportunities.  It  placed  the 
working  women  of  this  country  on  a  new  basis  industrially  and 
competition  was  more  keen.  The  Telephone  Company  did  not 
begin  to  consider  its  employment  policy  seriously  until  it  was 
actually  face  to  face  with  an  emergency  such  as  it  had  never 
before  known  in  its  history. 


WORKING  CONDITIONS 

In  order  to  fulfill  ideally  the  Company's  requirements,  an  oper- 
ator must  be  always  alert,  have  quick  vision,  auditory  nerves, 
always  be  ready  to  catch  the  words  of  the  supervisor  or  subscriber, 
have  steady  hands,  clear  voice,  and  ability  to  keep  her  temper 
unruffled.  Not  only  should  she  be  alert  in  answering  calls,  but 
she  must  watch  even  when  she  sees  no  signal  lest  one  escapes  her 
notice. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  it  is  necessary  for  an  operator  to  be 
in  excellent  physical  condition  in  order  to  come  up  to  the  ideals  of 
the  Company,  the  physical  condition  of  the  operating  rooms  plays 
an  impoitant  part  in  the  health  of  the  operators.  In  order  to 
keep  the  physical  condition  of  the  operators  at  a  high  standard, 
good  ventihition,  freedom  from  irritating  dusts  and  drafts  must 
be  striven  for  and  ample  light  must  be  provided.  Light,  heat  and 
ventilation  and  general  comfort  all  play  their  part  in  the  quality 
of  service  rendered.  The  Company  itself  recognizes  these  facts, 
for  on  the  whole  better  working  conditions  exist  in  the  telephone 
exchanges  than  in  the  average  factory  or  office  regarding  lighting, 
heating  and  ventilation.  There  are  exceptions  to  this  statement, 
chiefly  in  the  exchanges  which  are  in  rented  quarters  not  built 
especially  for  the  purpose  to  which  they  have  been  put.  The  day 
light  in  the  operating  room  must  not  be  too  bright  lest  it  make 
less  noticeable  the  glowing  of  the  signal  lights  on  the  switch  board. 

Ventilation. 

Lack  of  sufficient  ventilation  seems  to  be  one  of  the  greatest 
faults  to  be  found  in  the  operating  rooms.  When  the  switch  board 
is  placed  in  a  "  U  "  shape  around  the  room,  the  fresh  air  is  largely 
cut  off  because  the  switch  board  makes  an  effective  screen. 
The  larger  exchanges  in  New  York  City  have  systems  of  ventila- 
tion, forced  systems  of  drafts,  etc.,  which  keep  the  air  changed, 
but  in  other  instances  windows  and  fans  have  to  be  relied  upon. 
It  must  be  born  in  mind  that  operators  are  seated  closely  side  by 
side  and  when  the  room  is  in  constant  use  everv  hour  of  the 
twenty-four,  every  day  of  the  year,  work  day  and  holiday  alike, 

[47] 


4^ 


49 


I: 


there  is  never  any  considerable  period  of  time  when  the  room  can 
be  flooded  with  fresh  air  and  all  windows  opened  without  causing 
it  to  be  too  cold  or  drafty. 

Seats, 

Operators  are  seated  during  working  hours  and  special  adjust- 
able chairs  are  provided  for  their  use.  The  New  York  Telephone 
Company  is  to  be  congratulated  on  the  standards  of  chairs  used 
by  operators.  Every  effort  has  been  made  by  the  Company, 
through  seating  arrangements,  to  make  the  operators  as  comfort- 
able as  possible.  Allowing  her  to  change  her  position  from  time 
to  time  tends  thus,  as  far  as  seating  is  concerned,  to  reduce  fatigue 
to  its  minimum. 

• 

Washing  Facilities  and  Toilets. 

In  the  majority  of  the  telephone  exchanges  the  wash-rooms  and 
toilets  are  ample  and  usually  are  of  tile  or  marble,  and  the  rooms 
are  kept  in  an  excellent  state  of  cleanliness. 

Lockers. 

In  all  exchanges  of  any  size  sej)ar{ite  lockers  are  provided,  one 
or  two  oi)erators  to  a  locker.  The  lockers  are  made  of  open-work 
metal  so  as  to  be  easily  kept  clean  and  well  aired. 

Nigh t  A  ccomm odations. 

In  the  larger  exchanges  where  night  operators  are  granted  some 
time  during  the  night  for  sleeping,  some  arrangeinent  is  always 
made  for  the  operators.  There  is  a  certain  health  hazu'xl  in  the 
majority  of  arrangements,  however,  as  operators  coming  in  for 
relief  at  a  different  period  use  the  same  pillow  as  used  by  the 
previous  occupant.  Where  some  operators  are  scrupulously  care- 
ful others  are  decidedly  careless,  and  the  dangers  of  infection 
can  easily  be  realized. 

However,  the  Xew  York  Telephone  Company  has  gone  mucli 
farther  than  the  majority  of  large  employers  of  women  in  paying 
particular  attention  to  the  physical  conditions  imder  which  their 
employees  work. 


Best  Rooms. 

The  necessity  for  a  place  of  rest  during  rest  periods  is  uni- 
versally recognized,  all  exchanges  that  were  visited  reserving 
some  space  where  operators  may  spend  reliefs  and  rest  periods. 
The  type  and  number  of  rest  rooms  vary  with  the  size  of  the 
building  and  the  number  of  girls  who  would  be  using  such  a  room. 
In  many  instances  the  rooms  are  most  attractive  and  have  been 
designed  to  enable  the  girls  to  have  a  comfortable  place  to  which 
to  go  during  their  rest  periods  and  extra  time  at  meal  hours. 

The  girls  in  any  exchange  can  have  either  a  victrola  or  a  piano 
in  their  rest  room  if  they  request  it,  and  the  Company  plans  to 
work  out  some  routine  for  getting  new  records  for  the  victrolas 
from  time  to  time.  One  employee,  at  a  salary  of  $32  per  week, 
devoted  full  time  to  planning,  inspecting  and  maintaining  retiring 
rooms  for  the  exchanges  in  the  Manhattan  and  Bronx  Division. 
The  general  supervision  is  under  the  manager  of  the  lunch  room 
service,  although  the  different  types  of  expenditure  in  connection 
with  the  furnishing  and  maintaining  of  these  rooms  are  charged 
to  different  department  accounts.  Some  of  the  rooms  have  a 
goodly  supply  of  books  and  current  magazines. 

During  191.9,  three  completely  new  rest  rooms  were  opened 
and  furnished  at  a  cost  of  almost  $10,000.  In  addition  to  this, 
seven  rooms  were  partially  refurnished  or  improved,  making  a 
total  cost  during  the  year  for  new  furniture  and  furnishings 
for  the  rest  rooms  of  $12,070.32. 

The  most  attractive  and  newest  of  these  rest  rooms  is  the  one 
for  the  pupils  of  the  training  school  which  was  opened  last  year. 
More  than  500  girls  are  in  the  position  to  use  this  room  at  inter- 
vals during  the  day,  and  because  of  the  somewhat  irregular  periods 
which  often  occur  in  the  training  school,  girls  are  found  there 
almost  constantly,  and  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  comfortable 
chairs  and  couches,  soft  colors,  low  lights  and  restful  atmosphere 
are  fully  appreciated.  The  rest  rooms  in  many  of  the  older  build- 
ings are  much  less  attractive.  Although  always  comfortable,  they 
are  often  furnished  with  a  view  to  strength  and  durability  rather 
than  the  complete  restfulness  in  which  harmony  of  color  and 
lighting  plays  such  an  important  part.  The  $4,800  expended  last 
year  in  furnishing  the  rest  room  for  training  school  girls  might 


50 


51 


almost  be  considered  in  the  light  of  a  business  advertisement. 
Such  a  room  certainly  does  much  to  minimize  the  discQuragemc-nt 
and  fatigue  of  the  girls  just  entering  the  telephone  industry. 

Ininch  Room  Service, 

For  many  years  the  Telephone  Company  has  provided  lunch 
rooms  for  its  operators  where  free  tea,  coffee,  sugar  and  condensed 
milk  was  served.     The  girls  brought  their  own  lunches  or  went 
out  for  the  more  substantial  part  of  the  meal.     The  Company 
came  to  the  conclusion,  however,  that  it  would  be  well  worth  while 
to  install  a  regular  cafeteria  service  where  food  could  be  served 
at  cost,  or  less  than  cost.     While  the  tea,  coffee,  sugar  and  con- 
densed milk  is  still  continued  as  a  free  service  to  the  girls,  in  the 
Manhattan   and  Bronx   Division   two  complete  cafeterias  were 
opened  in  1915,  four  in  1916,  seven  in  1917,  four  in  1918,  and 
nine  in  1919.     At  the  present  time  in  the  thirty  buildings  in 
which  there  are  exchanges  in  the  Manhattan  and  Bronx  Division, 
twenty-six  have  a  regular  cafeteria  service.    Three  small  exchanges 
still  maintain   only  the  free  service  of  former  years,   and  one 
exchange,  in  which  but  six  girls  are  employed,  has  no  service 
whatsoever. 

The  lunch  room  service  was  designed  primarily  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  operating  force,  but  in  the  buildings  where  a  large 
clerical  force  was  employed  the  service  included  them,  so  that  at 
the  present  time  all  women  employees  are  permitted  to  use  the 
lunch  rooms,  and  in  special  instances  some  of  the  men  may  obtain 
food  from  the  lunch  rooms  at  certain  times. 

Ten  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-one  (10,761)  employees 
of  the  Company  are  provided  with  this  s'^rvi'-e  at  the  present 
time.  Eight  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-six  (8,876)  of 
these  are  on  the  operating  force.  For  the  2,725,898  meals  for 
which  CHsh  was  paid  by  the  employees,  $354,575.58  was  received, 
an  average  expenditure  of  13  cents  per  meal. 

An  examination  of  the  menu  offered  with  their  food  prices 
will  show  at  what  ridiculously  low  rates  food  is  furnished  em- 
ployees in  the  Company. 

During  1919,  the  expenses  for  the  lunch  room  service  an^.ounted 
to  $591,720  and  the  Company  had  a  deficit  of  $237,144.42.     At 


the  present  time  there  are  214  employees  engaged  in  running  the 
lunch  rooms,  and  in  addition  to  these  there  is  a  force  of  13  in  the 
lunch  room  managers  office  and  8  special  employees  assigned  to  the 
dormitory.  The  Company  is  now  considering  extending  the  lunch 
room  service  so  that  a  table-d'hote  meal  can  l>e  served  for  the 
sum  of  10  cents  or  12  cents,  in  this  way  insuring  a  proper  food 
balance  ration  to  the  girl  for  a  price  so  low  that  she  will  take 
the  full  meal.  This  will  mean  even  greater  financial  loss  to  the 
Company,  in  all  probability,  but  they  consider  it  a  worth  wnile 
expenditure. 

Outside  Manhattan  and  Bronx,  the  lunch  room  service  has 
not  been  developed  to  any  extent.  Three  buildings  in  Brooklyn 
now  have  cafeterias  and  practically  all  exchanges  of  any  size 
throughout  the  State  are  rendering  the  "  free  service "  of  tea, 
coffee,  sugar  and  condensed  milk.  In  some  up-state  exchanges 
the  girl?  themselves  have  worked  out  a  plan  whereby  they  can 
serve  themselves  crackers,  cake,  etc.,  at  cost. 

The  night  operators  are  supposed  to  have  the  full  benefit  of 
the  lunch  room  service.  In  the  large  exchanges,  someone  is  on 
duty  to  furnish  them  food,  but  in  most  instances  meals  are  left 
for  them  in  the  ice-box,  and  they  serve  themselves. 

Supervision. 

The  most  common  complaint  and  criticism  of  the  Telephone 
Company  which  the  operators  express  is  that  supervision  is  unsym- 
pathetic and  over-strict. 

Fox  every  8  to  10  girls  there  is  a  supervisor,  walking  back  and 
forth  behind  their  chairs,  assisting  in  handling  calls  when  neces- 
sary, and  helping  in  adjustment  of  difficulties.  The  assistance 
the  supervisor  renders  the  operators  is  incalculable.  Her  presence 
however,  adds  materially  to  the  mental  and  nervous  strain  of  the 
operator,  especially  if  she  herself  is  nervous  and  irritable.  The 
cx)ntinual  presence  of  a  supervisor,  if  she  is  not  a  person  of  under- 
standing and  sympathy,  creates  in  itself  an  element  of  nervous 

strain. 

The  position  of  observer  is  a  second  supervising  position.  There 
are  fewer  observers  than  supervisors  and  they  are  not  visible  to 


i 


52 

the  operators.  The  observer  has  a  board  which  is  called  an  observ- 
ation board  and  from  which  she  can  plug  in  on  any  operator,  fol- 
low her  work  in  detail,  time  her  calls,  hear  her  remarks  and  also 
those  of  the  subscriber. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  close  supervision  is  necessary.  It  is 
true,  however,  that  this  close  double  supervision  which  the  Com- 
pany gives  the  girls  plays  a  very  large  part  in  the  nervous  strain 
on  the  operator.  One  supervisor  has  been  reported  as  walking  back 
and  forth  behind  her  8  or  10  girls  saying  in  low  monotonous  voice, 
"Hurry  girls,  hurry  girls."  With  a  girl  answering  calls  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  and  with  lights  flashing  in  front  of  her  eyes 
continually,  and  the  buzzing  in  her  ears,  the  fact  of  being  driven 
from  behind  irritates  many  of  the  girls  to  the  extreme. 

The  Public's  Part 

The  impatience  of  subscribers  is  the  next  important  cause  of 
nervousness.  With  each  call  a  light  flashes  in  front  of  the  oper- 
ator, severj>l  of  these  lights  flashing  simultaneously  show  that  a 
number  of  subscribers  are  calling  for  numbers  at  the  same  time. 
The  operator  is  expected  to  give  the  quickest  possible  attention  to 
each,  and  to  remember  which  light  flashed  first.  When  several 
signals  come  at  once,  and  others  come  before  these  can  be  cared 
for,  the  order  is  necessarily  lost  and  her  effort  is  concentrated  on 
clearing  the  board.  When  an  impatient  subscriber  jiggles  his 
receiver  he  not  only  flashes  the  signal  light  in  front  of  the  oper- 
ator, but  when  the  operator  opens  her  key  to  learn  his  wants, 
a  clicking  sound  is  caused  in  her  ear  every  time  the  subscriber 
moves  the  receiver  up  and  down. 

Consciousness  that  a  number  of  subscribers  are  waiting  to  have 
their  calls  attended  to,  their  growing  impatience  emphasized  by 
the  constant  flash  of  lights  before  her  eyes,  and  the  incessant  buz- 
zing in  her  ears,  together  with  the  knowledge  that  the  supervisor 
is  standing  behind  her  either  hurrying  her  or  asking  other  oper- 
ators  to  attend  to  her  numbers,  and  that  the  observer  may  plug 
in  to  criticize  at  any  moment,  causes  strain  which  might  in  some 
degree  be  lessened  if  subscribers  learned  to  be  a  little  more 
patient. 


53 


The  operator  is  allowed  to  respond  in  certain  set  phrases  such 
as  "  Xumbc^r  please,''  "  Excuse  it  please,"  etc.  She  may  not  "  talk 
back  "  no  matter  how  much  she  is  being  abused  by  a  subscriber, 
and  any  abuse  which  the  subscriber  may  heap  on  the  operator  only 
delays  her  operations  and  clogs  her  switch  board. 

Rest  Periods, 

The  policy  of  the  New  York  Telephone  Company  requires  a 
15  minute  break  during  the  first  half  of  the  day's  service  and 
another  15  minutes  during  the  second.  During  the  year  1919, 
because  of  the  shortage  of  labor,  this  policy  has  not  been  uni- 
versally practiced.  In  some  New  York  City  exchanges  and  in 
the  exchanges  of  the  up-state  cities  it  has  been  possible  to  adhere 
to  this  rule,  but  in  far  too  great  a  number  of  the  exchanges  the 
rest  periods  have  been  entirely  eliminated  or  only  one  period  of 
rest  given  during  the  entire  working  day. 

Telephone  operating,  entailing  as  it  does  such  physical  and 
nervous  strain,  shows  imperative  need  of  establishing  15  minute 
i*est  periods  in  each  half  of  the  shift.  That  four  hours  operating 
without  any  cessation  from  work  or  any  let-down  is  too  long,  is 
the  testimony  of  the  medical  authorities  of  Toronto  on  the  study 
of  telephone  operating  made  by  the  Royal  Commission.  The 
strict  observance  of  rest  periods  would  materially  benefit  the 
efficiency  of  the  telephone  service] 


Wi 


MEDICAL  DEPARTMENT 

The  records  of  the  Medical  Department  are  considered  by  the 
Company  as  strictly  confidential  and  very  little  information  can 
be  obtained  about  the  girls  reporting  disabilities  of  various  kinds 
and  seeking  medical  treatment.  Certain  it  is  that  the  Medical 
Department  should  play  a  very  important  part  in  determining 
standards  of  any  sort  in  the  telephone  industry.  The  operators 
are  subjected  to  peculiar  conditions  because  of  the  nature  of  the 
occupation.  They  are  employed  at  an  age  when  they  are  particu- 
larly sensitive  to  strain  and  nervous  exhaustion.  The  telephone 
industry  imposes  upon  the  girls  conditions  which  subject  them  to 
eye  strain,  ear  strain,  and  nei-vous  tension.  Rest  periods  have  been 
found  essential  from  the  point  of  view  of  service.  The  Medical 
Department  of  such  an  industry  has  a  peculiar  responsibility  in 
adding  constantly  to  the  scientific  knowledge  now  available  on  the 
relation  of  working  conditions  to  health.  This  knowledge  at  the 
present  time  is  all  too  meager  and  is  largely  composed  of  the  opin- 
ions of  medical  men  rather  than  carefully  worked  out  studies 
covering  periods  of  tim.e  long  enough  to  make  the  results  of  great 
value. 

Dr.  Richardson,  of  the  JSTew  England  Telei)honc  Company, 
found  in  examining  the  Benefit  Fund  records  of  the  New  York 
Telephone  Company  for  1917  that  there  had  been  631  cases  of 
nervous  disability,  including  neuralgia  and  neurasthenia.  Among 
the  employees  of  the  Company  this  was  a  rate  of  55.8  per  1,000 
employees  per  annum  eligible  for  sickness  disability.  The  rate 
for  the  total  Bell  system  was  only  33.4  per  1,000.  The  need  la 
very  obvious  for  special  study  of  fatigue  in  an  industrv-  in  which 
nervous  tension  is  so  omnipresent. 

At  the  present  time  in  the  Xew  York  Bell  Telephone  Company 
the  Medical  Department  is  made  up  of  27  physicians,  each  of 
whom  is  on  duty  for  three  hours  a  day,  and  15  graduate  nurses, 
who  are  on  duty  for  full  time.  The  doctors  and  nurses  are  cen- 
tered in  New  York,  Brookl\^l,  Newark  and  Mt.  Vernon,  one  to 
ten  doctors  in  each  district,  and  from  one  to  seven  nurses. 

In  the  parts  of  the  State  where  no  regular  Company  physicians 
are  employed   arrangements   are  miido  by  the  Directors  of  the 

[54] 


55 


c 


Medical  Department  with  practising  physicians  in  the  different 
districts.  These  physicians  are  then  on  call  for  the  necessary 
emergency  work  in  connection  with  accidents  and  examinations 
of  Telephone  Company  employees.  Outside  New  York  City  and 
its  outlying  di.-^tricts  the  Company's  medical  service  has  not  been 
extensively  developed. 

The  Medical  Department  in  New  York  City  has  complete 
equipment  for  making  blood  tests,  taking  X-rays,  etc.,  and  where 
examinations  of  this  sort  prove  to  be  needed,  the  Company  makes 
them.  In  special  cases,  also,  the  Company  supplies  needed  medi- 
al care  from  outside  specialists  when  the  employee  is  unable  to 

afford  such  care. 

The  cost  of  these  special  cases  is  not  included  in  the  budget  of 
the  Medical  Department.     In  1918  this  budget  amounted  to  ap 
proximately  $93,000.00.     $75,000.00  of  this  went  into  salaries 
and  wages,  $3,000.00  was  spent  for  equipment,  and  $15,000.00 
was    charged   to   miscellaneous   items   such    as    printing,    house 

charges,  etc. 

The  Medical  Department  has  complete  supervision  of  the  health 
of  employees.  Every  employee  of  the  Company  is  eligible  to 
medical  service  and  a  medical  examination  is  one  of  the  require- 
ments of  employment.  These  physical  examinations  are  given  tor 
the  operators  in  connection  with  the  training  school  by  women 
physicians.  If  the  applicant  for  a  position  is  employed  at  the 
time  of  her  application,  she  is  given  a  physical  examination  be- 
fore she  enters  the  training  school,  so  that  she  will  not  have  left 
her  other  work  while  there  is  a  chance  that  her  physical  condition 
will  bar  her  from  employment  with  the  Telephone  Company.  If 
she  is  not  employed  at  the  time  of  her  application,  however,  she 
enters  the  training  school  immediately  and  some  time  during  her 
training  course  an  appointment  is  made  for  her  physical  examina- 
tion. The  examination  is  short  and  of  necessity  superficial,  last- 
ing usually  about  15  minutes  and  rarely  more  than  30  minutes.  A 
brief  medical  history  of  the  girl  and  of  her  family  is  made  out  by 
the  nurse  before  she  is  examined  by  the  doctor.  Particular  em- 
phasis is  placed  on  heart  and  lung  conditions  and  oar  and  e^-e 
trouble.  An  eye  test  is  always  given  either  by  the  interviewer  in 
the  Employment  Department  or  by  the  physician  examining  lier. 


66 

Very  often  the  girl  is  advised  conceruiiig  slight  disabilities 
which  can  be  easily  remedied  by  prQi>er  treatment  —  such  as  bad 
condition  of  teeth  or  throat. 

In  1919,  of  the  9,428  applicants  examined  for  operating  ix>si- 
tions  815,  or  8.6%  were  rejected  because  of  i>hysical  disability. 
One-fifth  of  these  rejections  were  on  account  of  lung  conditions, 
one-tenth  on  account  of  nervous  disorders,  and  18%  were  rejected 
because  of  under-development ;  yet  at  the  present  time  the  examin- 
ing physicians  are  taking  girls  who  are  obviously  below  par  physi- 
cally if  they  think  the  girl  is  at  all  able  to  do  the  work,  and  can 
be  gradually  brought  up  to  physical  standards  while  she  is 
employed. 

'No  treatment  other  than  emergency  treatment  is  given  by  the 
Medical  Departm.ent,  the  work  is  confined  to  diagnosis  and  the 
employee  is  referred  to  her  own  private  physician  for  whatever 
treatment  is  needed. 

Additional  physical  examinations  can  be  made  from  time  to 
time  in  individual  cases  whenever  the  doctor  feels  it  necessary  or 
when  an  employee  requests  it.  Often  these  examinations  are  in 
connection  with  employees  receiving  medical  benefits  where  any 
question  arises  concerning  their  exact  physical  condition. 

The  Medical  Department  is  also  supposed  to  serve  in  an  advis- 
ory capacity  concerning  the  general  sanitation  of  the  Company's 
plants,  but  does  not  have  direct  charge  of  such  things  as  disinfect- 
ing rooms,  buildings,  etc. 

It  is  extremely  unfortunate  that  the  records  of  the  Medical 
Department  and  those  of  the  Employment  Department  are  so 
unstandardized  that  very  little  material  of  significance  can  be 
secured  from  them.  Losses  because  of  physical  condition  form 
such  a  large  proportion  among  the  students  in  the  training  school 
that  careful  analysis  and  records  would  seem  essc^ntial,  yet  the 
largest  number  of  these  losses  are  classed  with  the  miscellaneous 
group  of  reasons  for  resignations  and  dismissals  from  the  student 
force.  An  analysis  of  the  miscellaneous  ^onp  of  causes  for  dis- 
missals for  the  year  1919  discloses  the  fact  that  among  618 
students  who  were  dismissed,  473  had  to  leave  because  they  were 
physically  unfit.     In  addition  to  these  there  are  six  other  groups 


67 

with  physical  disabilities.  Among  23  groups  of  causes  for  stu- 
dent resignation  in  the  miscellaneous  group  no  less  than  10  deal 
with  physical  conditions.  The  same  haphazard  arrangement  of 
causes  of  losses  from  the  operating  force  occurs  throughout. 

A  more  careful  analysis  of  these  losses  and  the  causes  for  them 
with  a  uniform  and  detailed  classification  of  reasons  for  leaving 
would  seem  one  of  the  first  essentials  in  intelligently  approach- 
ing the  employment  problem  now  confronting  the  Telephone 
Company. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  number  of  losses  from  the  operating 
force  could  be  considerably  reduced  if  the  Telephone  Company 
undertook  a  more  thorough  medical  supervision  of  the  operators, 
and  that  the  efiiciency  of  the  workers  could  be  kept  nearer  its 
maximum.  The  Medical  Department  should  study  very  closely 
working  conditions  and  apply  the  information  they  gain  to  the 
practical  fitting  of  the  operator  to  her  job.  This,  of  course,  could 
be  done  only  by  periodical  examinations  and  would  entail  a  much 
larger  medical  force  than  the  Company  now  employs.  The  whole 
trend  of  telephonic  invention  has  been  of  a  nature  to  intensify 
the  strain  by  heightening  the  possible  speed  at  which  the  opera- 
tion may  be  carried  on.  But  little  attention  has  thus  far  been  paid 
to  the  inimical  effect  upon  the  constitutions  of  women  engaged 
in  such  a  calling  and  the  possible  effects  upon  their  children.  The 
problem  from  this  point  of  view  is  medical  rather  than  economic 
and  the  full  determination  of  the  effect  of  telephony  upon  the 
health  of  those  engaged  in  it  can  be  had  only  as  a  result  of  expert 
medical  study.  The  Telephone  Company  has  a  w^onderful  oppor- 
tunity, through  its  Medical  Department,  to  make  a  very  genuine 
contribution  to  the  all  too  meager  knowledge  on  this  subject. 


m 


EMPLOYEES'  BENEFIT  FUND 
The  New  York  Telephone  Company  established  a  plan  for 
employees'  pensions,  disability  benefits  and  death  benefits  which 
went  into  effect  January  1,  1913.  The  same  plan  applies  to  the 
Bell  Telephone  Company  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  Chesapeake  & 
Potomac  Telephone  Company.  The  public  report  of  this  benefit 
fund  is  little  more  than  a  financial  statement  and  in  many  in- 
stances statistics  regarding  the  operation  of  the  fund  are  given  lor 
the  three  companies  together.  The  general  plan  of  the  Company 
makes  it  possible  for  the  interchange  of  benefit  obligations  between 
the  three  companies  directly  concerned  and  the  American  Tele- 
phone and  Telegraph  Company,  its  associated  companies  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  Western  Electric  Company. 

The  initial  appropriation  made  by  the  Companies  of  the  Bell 
System  in  establishing  the  benefit  fund  amounted  to  $8,855,000. 
The  plan  is  financed  entirely  by  the  Company  and  the  employees 
make  no  payments  whatsoever  to  the  fund.  Each  company  guar- 
antees to  credit  to  this  fund  interest  at  the  rate  of  4%  per  annum 
on  the  average  unexpended  balance  and  to  also  make  such  addi- 
tional appropriations  at  the  end  of  each  year  to  restore  the  fund 
to  its  original  amount,  provided  that  such  appropriation  shall  not 
exceed  2%  of  the  Company's  pay-roll.  The  plan  provides  for 
pensions,  death  benefits,  accident  disability  benefits  and  sickness 
disability  benefits. 

(1)  Pensions — Pensions  are  provided  for  employes  who  have 
been  in  the  service  20  years  or  more.  Special  disability  pensions 
may  be  granted,  at  the  discretion  of  the  benefit  committee,  after 
15  years  of  service.  The  employees  are  divided  into  four  groups 
which  are  determined  by  the  age  of  the  employee  and  the  length  of 
his  service.  -^i-^— ^-?«^ 

The  amount  of  the  annual  pension  is  1%  of  the  average  annual 
pay  for  10  years  multiplied  by  the  number  of  years  in  the  em- 
ployee's term  of  employment.  The  minimum  pension  is  $20,00 
per  month,  but  this  minimum  does  not  apply  to  special  disability 
pensions  which  may  be  granted  to  employops  of  loss  than  20 
years  of  service. 

15S] 


59 

(2)  Death  Benefits  — Death  benefits  are  payable  only  to  the 
wife  or  husband  or  dependent  relative  of  the  deceased  employee. 
They  are  limited  to  one  year's  pay  not  exceeding  $2,000.00  if  the 
employee  hajs  been  in  the  service  10  years  ox  more,  or  to  6  months' 
pay  not  exceeding  $2,000.00  if  the  employee  has  been  in  the  serv- 
ice from  5  to  10  years.  In  the  case  of  death  by  accident,  the  bene- 
fit amounts  to  three  years'  pay,  not  exceeding  $5,000.00,  and 
the  necessary  expenses  of  burial  up  to  $150.00. 

(3)  Accident  Disability  Benefits  — In  the  case  of  accidents, 
the  benefits  stai-t  from  the  first  day.  With  total  disability,  full 
pay  is  given  for  13  weeks  and  half  pay  for  the  remainder  of  the 
disability,  with  a  maximum  cash  Ixmefit  of  $20.00  per  week  after 
6  years.  In  the  case  of  partial  disability,  100%  loss  in  earnings 
is  paid  for  the  first  13  weeks  and  50%  of  loss  capacity  for  the 
remainder  of  the  disability  up  to  6  years. 

(4)  Si-ckness  DisahiUiij  Benefits — Sickness  disability  benefits 
apply  only  to  the  employees  who  have  been  in  the  service  of  the 
Company  at  least  2  years.  The  benefits  begin  on  the  eighth  day 
of  absence  on  account  of  sickness  and  vary  in  amount  according 
to  the  term  of  service.  Every  employee  of  2  to  5  years'  service 
receives  full  pay  for  4  weeks  and  half  pay  for  9  weeks.  For  those 
whose  service  is  between  5  and  10  years,  full  pay  is  given  for  13 
weeks  and  half  pay  for  a  similar  period  of  time.  For  those  whose 
term  of  employment  has  been  more  than  10  years,  full  pay  is 
given  for  13  weeks  and  half  pay  for  39  weeks. 

The  Benefit  Fund  and  its  administration  is  under  a  committee 
of  five  appointed  by  the  Company.  The  committee  employs  the 
secretary  of  the  Fund  and  other  help  necessary  to  the  administra- 
tion and  decides  all  special  questions  which  may  arise. 

The  last  figures  available  for  the  Fund  are  those  for  1918. 
They  apply  to  the  New  York  Telephone  Company,  which  operates 
partly  in  the  states  of  New  Jersey  and  Connecticut.  The  figures, 
therefore,  include  employees  in  the  Company  working  outside  of 
New  York  State. 

The  average  number  of  employees  in  the  New  York  Telephone 
Company  in  1018  was  30,101.*  Nineteen  thotisand  eight 
hundred  and  ninety-four   (19,894)   of  these  were  women.     All 

•  This  number  was  obtained  by  overaging  the  total  number  of  employees 
at  the  beginning  of  the  year  and  the  total  number  at  the  end  of  the  year. 


60 

employees  are  eligible  to  the  aceideut  benefit,  but,  as  has  been 
stated,  only  those  employees  with  a  service  record  of  two  years  or 
more  are  eligible  to  the  sickness  benefit.     The  estimated  average 
number  eligible  to  these  sickness  benefits  during  the  year  1918 
was  19,835,  or  65%  of  the  total  number  of  employees.     Of  this 
eligible  number,  11,246  were  women  and  8,589  were  men.     This 
would  indicate  that  some  76%  of  the  men  had  been  with  the  Com- 
pany at  least  two  years,  while  only  58%  of  the  women  had  served 
that  long,  although  the  women  constituted  66%  of  the  labor  force. 
This  would  emphasize  again  the  fact  that  the  serious  problem  of 
labor  turnover  in  the  Telephone  Company  is  due  to  the  fluctuation 
among  the  women  who  have  been  with  the  Company  but  a  short 
time. 

During  1918,  1,093  accidents  were  reported,  but  in  only  151 
cases  were  women  injured.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  there  are 
almost  twice  as  many  women  as  men,  it  is  quite  natural  that  the 
men  should  have  suffered  approximately  six  times  as  many  acci- 
dents as  the  women,  for  practically  all  of  these  accidents  came 
from  work  on  poles  or  with  wires. 

In  the  sickness  cases,  however,  of  which  th(»re  were  7,375  re- 
ported for  the  year,  5,62.9  occurred  among  the  women  employees. 
Approximately  two-fiftlis  of  the  sickness  cases  among  women  were 
due  to  influenza,  pneumonia,  tonsilitis  or  bronchitis.  The  num- 
ber of  eye  and  ear  diseases  was  surprisingly  few,  considering  the 
nature  of  the  work,  but  the  cases  of  anaemia  numbered  235,  the 
largest  single  group  outside  those  sicknesses  connected  with  the 
influenza  epidemic.  One  hundred  and  twenty-three  (123)  of  the 
girls  were  reported  with  tuberculosis  and  in  some  c^ses  special 
treatment  was  secured  for  these  tubercular  girls. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  no  report  is  available  of  the  sickness  cases 
of  those  employees  who  have  been  with  the  Company  too  short  a 
time  to  be  eligible  for  benefits.  It  is  also  unfortunate  that  there 
is  no  way  of  securing  any  knowledge  of  the  len^h  of  disability"" 
During  1919  the  Benefit  Fund  ])aid  out  $667,991.26,  of  which 
$475,164.02  went  to  sickness  disability  benefits.  The  death  bene- 
fits amounted  to  $97,623.40;  the  pensions  $25,175.87;  the 
accident   disability   $56,396.78,   and   special   disability  expenses 


61 


$13,631.19.  The  financial  statement  of  the  Fund  did  not  include 
any  amount  of  over-head  or  administration  expenses. 

The  Benefit  Fund  and  the  Medical  Department  are  supposed 
to  woi'k  in  close  co-operation  and  the  Medical  Department  goes 
over  the  requests  for  benefits  from  sick  employees  and  whenever 
question  arises  a  special  diagnosis  is  made. 

The  administration  of  the  fund  is  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the 
committee.  Benefits  may  not  be  refused  or  suspended,  nor  can  an 
employee  be  taken  off  the  pay-roll  during  a  period  of  disability, 
except  upon  the  approval  of  the  committee.  The  officers  of  the 
Fund  state  that  it  is  the  policy  of  the  committee  to  make  a  very 
careful  and  thorough  investigation  of  each  case  before  permitting 
the  removal  of  an  employee's  name  from  the  pay-roll  while  that 
employee  is  away  from  work  because  of  sickness. 

Any  special  grievance  or  difficulty  which  an  employee  has  con- 
cerning the  administration  of  the  Fund  is  brought  directly  to  the 
committee.  Question  has  been  raised  as  to  the  propriety  of  hav- 
ing no  representative  chosen  by  the  employees  on  this  committee, 
which  is  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Company  t(> 
administer  the  fund.  Since  the  Fund  is  not  a  mutual  organization 
in  any  sense,  but  is  financed  by  the  Company  for  their  employees, 
it  seems  quite  logical  that  the  management  should  be  in  the  Cimi- 
pany's  hands. 


63 


MISCELLANEOUS  BENEFITS 

Anniversary  Payments 

An  anniversary  gift  is  given  to  each  member  of  the  operating 
force  who  has  been  in  the  service  of  the  Company  two  years  or 
more.  At  the  end  of  her  second  year  of  service  she  receives 
$25.00;  at  the  end  of  her  third,  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth  year  of 
service  she  receives  $50.00;  at  the  end  of  her  seventh  year  and 
each  year  thereafter  she  receives  $100.00. 

In  1919  the  anniversary  gifts  given  out  by  the  Company  to 
the  operating  force  of  the  Manhattan  and  Bronx  Division 
amounted  to  $283,075.00.  Four  thousand  four  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  (4,438)  people  received  these  gifts.  Eight  hundred 
and  sixty-six  (866)  were  gifts  of  $25.00,  amounting  to 
$21,625.00 ;  1,015  were  gifts  of  $50.00,  amounting  to  $95,750.00 ; 
1,657  were  gifts  of  $100.00,  amounting  to  $165,700.00. 

Other  Benefits 

It  is  the  policy  of  the  Company  to  care  for  its  employees  when- 
ever the  home  conditions  of  the  employee  seem  to  indicate  that  out- 
side help  is  needed.  Since  the  Employees'  Benefit  Fund  covers  only 
those  who  have  been  in  the  service  of  the  Company  two  years  or 
more,  a  schedule  of  benefits  exists  for  those  of  less  than  two  years 
of  service,  but  these  benefits  are  paid  at  the  discretion  of  the  depart- 
ment head,  and,  therefore,  there  is  no  uniform  policy  throughout 
the  Company.  The  schedule  of  benefits  enables  a  department  head 
to  pay  an  employee  in  the  service  less  than  one  year  a  regular 
wage  for  one  week  and  one-half  her  regular  wage  for  two  addi- 
tional weeks  if  she  is  out  ill  and  in  need.  If  the  employee  has 
been  in  the  service  more  than  one  year,  but  less  than  two  years, 
the  department  head  may  at  his  discretion  pay  her  her  regular 
wage  for  two  weeks  and  half  her  regular  wage  for  four  weeks. 
Payments  made  for  the  first  seven  days  are  charged  to  the  regular 
department  expenses  and  are  not  placed  in  a  separate  account,  but 
all  other  allowances  for  the  sickness  of  employees  in  the  serv- 
ice less  than  two  years  and  expenses  in  excess  of  payments  made 
from  the  Employees'  Benefit  Fund,  such  as  extension  of  regular 

[62] 


pensions,  sickness,  accident,  death,  etc.,  are  charged  to  a  special 
account.  In  1918,  $47,693.35  was  spent  by  the  Company  on  these 
"  other  benefits "  in  Manhattan,  Bronx,  Brooklyn  and  Queens 
Divisions. 

When  a  girl  is  away  from  the  office  an  investigation  is  made 
after  three  days.  This  investigation  is  made  from  the  central 
offi<5e  in  which  the  girl  belongs.  It  may  be  made  by  the  chief 
operator  herself  or  by  someone  designated  by  her  to  do  this  visit- 
ing. As  a  rule,  one  person  in  each  central  office  makes  all  the 
necessary  visits,  although  the  locality  in  which  the  sick  employee 
lives  or  some  special  circumstance  may  make  it  wise  to  allot  par- 
ticular visits  to  special  people.  The  visitor  fills  out  a  special  form 
for  the  Company  and  on  the  basis  of  this  visit  special  benefits,  if 
necessary,  are  recommended. 

While  the  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry  commends  the  Tele- 
phone Company  for  its  generous  and  liberal  system  of  benefit 
funds,  it  nevertheless  wishes  to  point  out  a  weakness  in  the  bene- 
fits as  they  are  administered  to  persons  who  have  been  with  the 
Company  less  than  two  years.  This  is  apparently  done  in  a  spas- 
modic and  hit  or  miss  way  and  does  not  relieve  the  operator  of 
the  bugaboo  of  workers  —  anxiety  and  worry  in  case  of  illness. 
Some  system  should  be  worked  out  whereby  the  operator  of  under 
two  years'  service  would  be  assured  that  she  would  be  taken  care 
of  during  illness.  It  may  be  perhaps  too  much  to  ask  that  the 
Telephone  Company  assume  this  heavy  financial  burden.  Some 
co-operative  scheme  of  health  insurance  between  the  workers  and 
the  management  might  be  worked  out  which  would  be  most 
effective. 


EMPLOYEES'  REPRESENTATIVE  PLAN 

In  line  with  the  policy  of  many  other  large  companies,  in  the 
spring  of  1919,  the  Telephone  Company  undertook  a  scheme  of 
representative  organization  among  its  employees.  In  its  declara- 
tion it  is  stated  that  since  the  interests  of  the  employees  and  the 
management  are  so  interdependent,  the  Company  desires  to  secure 
and  further  its  present  cordial  relationship  upon  a  definite  and 
durable  basis  of  mutual  understanding  and  confidence.  In  general, 
the  outline  of  the  organization  of  the  employees'  representative 
plan  is  as  follows: 

Every  employee  who  has  been  three  months  or  more  in  the  serv- 
ice of  the  Compjmy  is  entitled  to  vote  with  his  voting  section  for 
a  representative  of  the  Employees'  Council  Committee.  Any  em- 
ployee is  eligible  for  nomination  and  election  as  an  employee 
representative  of  the  Employees'  Council  Committee  who  has  been 
with  the  Company  one  year  or  more  and  is,  if  a  woman,  over  18 
years  of  age,  or,  if  a  man,  over  21  years  of  age.  The  management, 
on  the  other  hand,  elects  a  Management  Council  Committee.  The 
employees'  and  management  committees  may  have  joint  confer- 
ences and  consider  any  such  matter  for  ox  in  behalf  of  employees 
represented  by  such  Employees'  Committee,  and  the  management 
"  makes  such  final  disposition  thereto  and  enter  into  such  agree- 
ments with  respect  thereto  as  the  management  representatives  may 
have  authority  to,  make  and  enter  into."  Consideration  of  any 
matter  may  be  initiated  before  the  Employees'  Council  Commit- 
tee either  by  the  Employees'  Council  Committee  itself,  or  by  the 
managomont,  or  a  management  representative  for  such  council,  or 
by  an  employee  who  may  desire  to  bring  before  her  Employees* 
Council  Committee  anv  matter  which  such  emplo^^ee  has  been 
unable  to  adjust  satisfactorily  through  the  regular  channel  of 
Company  administration,  and  may  direct  the  Employees'  Council 
Committee  to  call  a  meeting  for  that  purpose. 

Is  the  Company  sincere  in  its  desire  to  establish  a  well  dis- 
ciplined and  responsible  representative  plan  among  its  employees  ? 
It  must  be  realized  that  such  an  organization  would  raise  the 
morale  of  the  operators  and  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  service. 

[04] 


65 

The  working  plan  of  the  employees' .  representative  plan  raises, 
however,  one  or  two  serious  questions.  It  is  very  clearly  stated 
that  the  management  representatives  are  empowered  to  act  in 
making  agreements  in  so  far  as  '*  the  management  representatives 
may  have  authoiity  to  make  or  enter  into."  This  reservation  is 
in  a  sense  perfectly  permissible,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  does 
not  leave  the  joint  body  as  one  really  capable  of  coming  to  any 
a<''reement  on  any  vital  issue  under  discussion.  It  means  that 
the  management  representatives  have  to  take  all  issues,  which  in 
Ihe  regular  course  of  their  authority  they  cannot  handle,  to  some 
higher  power  for  action.  This  one  point  in  itself  robs  this  plan 
of  any  real  possibility  of  functioning  democratically. 

The  plan  states  very  clearly  that  discussion  is  permitted  on 
"  any  matters  of  interest."  This  clause  forestalls  further  criticism 
of  omissions  because  all  such  important  matters  as  causes  of  dis- 
charge and  arbitration  by  some  agent  outside  the  Company  can  be 
taken  up  and  decided  in  the  Committees.  However,  many  similar 
representative  plans  have  specific  clauses  covering  these  points. 

Under  this  plan,  the  Company  assumes  the  entire  cost  connected 
with  the  organization  and  administration.  This  immediately 
stamps  it  in  the  imagination  of  the  worker  as  a  Company  activity 
and  she  does  not  instinctively  look  to  it  as  her  own  independent 
vehicle  of  expression. 

The  plan  has  been  in  operation  too  short  a  time  to  warrant 
judgment  on  its  practical  working.  However,  this  scheme  has 
great  possibilities,  but  where  so  many  thousands  of  girls  are  em- 
ploved,  distributed  as  they  are  over  a  dozen  or  more  central  ofiices 
and  working  on  throe  diiTerent  shifts,  it  will  be  difficult  to 
establish  a  democratic,  workable  and  effective  system  of  repre- 
sentation among  employees  unless  much  time  and  attention  is 
given  to  strengthening  this  organization. 

Among  tele])hone  or)erators  there  is  a  tremendous  latent  and 
creative  force  which  is  not  being  fully  utilized.  This  latent  and 
creative  force  should  be  harnessed  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  the 
operators  an  opportunity  to  share  in  the  responsibility  for  the 
conditions  under  which  they  work.  There  is  a  growing  and  legiti- 
mate desire  among  workers  to  do  things  for  themselves,  rather 
than  accept  what  is  done  for  them.  This  impulse  toward  self- 
3 


GC  . 

expression  must  be  recognized  and  met.  Excellent  working  con- 
ditions,  when  those  conditions  have  been  "handed  down  from 
above/'  are  sometimes  relatively  unimportant  compared  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  workers  in  having  a  voice  in  their  i^gulation. 
The  Telephone  Company  cannot  rest  under  the  impression  that 
the  new  wage  rates  will  settle  all  their  employment  difficulties. 
Some  truly  democratic  machinery  for  the  consideration  and  pre- 
vention of  grievances  is  essential. 


i 


t 


APPENDES  AND  STATISTICAL  TABLES 


[07J 


NAMES  AND  APPROXIMATE  SIZE  OF  EXCHANGES 
COVERED  IN  HOUR  AND  WAGE  INQUIRY 

(Males  and  females) 

Manhattan  and  Bronx  Division 


1.  Audubon   186 

2.  Bowling    Green    258 

3.  Broad 259 

4.  Chelsea    252 

6.  Circle     160 

6.  City  Island   5 

7.  Columbus    213 

5.  Cortland   28'0 

9.  Franklin   166 

10.  Greeley 211 

11.  Intervale 152 

12.  John 210 

13.  Lenox 163 

14.  Madison  Square  258 

15.  Melrose 238 

16.  Melrose  Toll   179 


17.  Morningside   .    '. 171 

18.  Murray   Hill    352 

19.  Orchard    1«7 

20.  Plaza   196 

21.  Rector    338 

22.  Schuyler 141 

23.  Schuyler    Inform 70 

24.  Spring  193 

25.  Stuyvesant 167 

26.  Tremont    126 

27.  Vanderbilt 263 

28.  Wadsworth 116 

29.  Worth    271 


Total   5,761 


1.  Astoria 

2.  Bay  Ridge 

3.  Bedford 

4.  Bensonhurst  .  .. 

5.  Bushwick 

6.  Coney   Island    . . 

7.  Decatur    

8.  East  New  York. 

9.  Evergreen     

10.  Far  Rockaway  . 

11.  Flushing 

12.  Greenpoint    

13.  Hamilton 

14.  Hammels    


Brooklyn  a/nd  Qiieens  Division 

15.  Jamaica 95 

16.  Long  Island  Toll 162 

17.  Main 260 

18.  Newtown   54 

19.  Prospect    183 

20.  Prospect    Inform 101 

21.  Richmond  Hill    91 

22.  South    118 

23.  Stagg 119 

24.  Sterling 42 

25.  Williamsburg 119 


62 

164 

21.3 

113 

139 

48 

78 

172 

77 

73 

69 

122 

68 

25 


Total 2,767 


1.  New  Dorp   .  . . 

2.  Tompkinsville 


Staten  Island,  New  Jersey  Division 
17         3.  West   Brighton 


42 


70 


Total 


129 


[69] 


If 


I 


'S 

ii 


70 


Long   Island  Suburban  Division 


1.  Bay  Shore    .  . 

2.  Kasthampton 

3.  Garden   City 

4.  Glen   Cove    ,  . 

5.  Greeiiport    .  . 

6.  Huntington    . 

7.  Long  Beach   . 

8.  Patehogue    . .  . 


0.  Port   Washington 


11 
6 

38 
14 

7 
11 

2 
12 

9 


10.  Riverhead     

11.  Rockvillc   Center 

12.  Roslyn 

13.  Sayville 

14.  Souilianipton     .  . . 

15.  Yaphank    


10 
24 

7 

5 

8 

10 


Total 174 


Westchester  Division 


1.  Briarclifl"    .  .  . 

2.  Haverstraw     . 

3.  Mt.  Kisco    .  . 

4.  Mt.  Vernon    . 

5.  New  Rochelle 

6.  Nyack 

7.  Piermont    ... 


1.  Auburn     (local) 

2.  Canaseraga    (Federal) 

3.  Canastota 

4.  Corning 

5.  Binghamton    

6.  Cortland   

7.  East  Syracuse    

S.  Elmira 

9.  Endicott    

10.  Geneva 

11.  Hornell  

12.  Horseheads    

13.  Ithaca    


1.  Albany. 

1.  Main     . .  . . 

2.  West    

Catskill     .... 
I>elmar    

4.  Fort  Edward 

5.  Glen  Falls   . . 

6.  Goshen     

'^.  Roosick  Falls 


2. 
3. 


5 
7 
14 
92 
68 
19 
6 


8.  Port   Chester 

9.  Scarsdale  .  .. 
rO.  Tarrytown  .  . 

11.  White  Plains 

12.  Yonkers    .... 


25 

10 
19 
56 

84 


Total 405 


Central  Division 


45 

2 

8 

27 

93 

43 

3 

86 
10 
8 
27 
5 
23 


14.  Ithaca    (Federal) 

15.  Little  Falls   

16.  New  Hartford    .  . 

17.  Norwich    

18.  Oswego     

19.  Rome   

20.  Syracuse. 

1.  Toll     

2.  Warren    . . . 

21.  Utica    (Toll)     ... 

22.  Watertown    


20 
19 
3 
17 
43 
26 

86 

209 

55 

56 


Total 913 


Hudson  Division 


163 

90 

11 

3 

7 

53 

9 

8 


8.  Kingston  43 

9.  Poughkecpsie    ^4 

10.  Saugerties    10 

11.  Schenectady    127 

12.  Troy  .....' 13^ 

13.  Waterford    5 


Total 733 


71 


Western 

1.  Albion     18 

2.  Avon    (Federal)     4 

3.  Batavia    27 

4.  Brockport    6 

5.  Bufifalo. 

L  Abbott 50 

2.  Howard    107 

3.  Seneca    266 

4.  Toll    142 

5.  Tupper    169 

6.  Canandiiigua    7 

7.  Charlotte    7 

8.  Dansville   ( Federal )    5 

9.  Dunkirk 14 

10.  East  Aurora   15 

11.  East  Rochester 6 

12.  Fairport  (Federal)    5 

13.  Geneseo    9 

14.  Hamburg    10 

15.  Honeoye  Falls   7 


Division 

16.  Le   Roy    (Federal) 5 

17.  Lockport    46 

18.  Medina    ^^ 

19.  Mt.  Morris    W 

20.  Niagara   Fails    SS 

21.  Olean    40 

22.  Penn  Yan    22 

23.  Pittsford    (Federal)    6 

24.  Rochester. 

1.  Chase    73 

2.  Genesee    ^6 

3.  Main   149 

25.  Rush 5 

26.  Salamanca    1® 

27.  Silver  Creek 6 

28.  Tonawanda    26 

29.  Victor    6 

Total    1,456 


SCHEDULES  OF  WAGE  PAYMENTS 

Wage  payments  for  operators  are  set  according  to  certain  sched- 
ules, which  are  different  in  various  localities,  depending  really 
upon  the  labor  market  of  each  locality.  Into  the  wage  payment 
of  the  chief  operator  another  item  enters,  it  being  dependent  upon 
the  size  of  the  exchange  or  upon  the  number  of  subordinates  over 
whom  she  must  exercise  control. 

As  it  happens,  wage  schedules  of  operators  and  chief  operators 
in  the  same  locality  uniformly  bear  the  same  numerical  denota- 
tion. The  Telephone  Company,  for  its  detailed  needs,  marks  the 
one  by  use  of  an  Arabic  figure,  the  other,  by  Roman.  For  our 
convenience,  no  such  separation  is  made ;  the  Roman  figure  is  used. 

The  places  and  the  number  of  persons  (males  excluded)  at  each 
exchange  are  listed  below  under  wage  schedules  where  they  fall. 


1.  Manhattan. 

1.  Audubon    186 

2.  Bowling  Green 258 

S.  Broad    259 

4.  Chelsea    252 

5.  Circle    160 

6.  Columbus    213 

7.  Cortland     280 

8.  Franklin     166 

9.  Greeley    211 

10.  John    210 

11.  Lenox    163 

12.  Madison  Square   258 

13.  Morningside    171 


Schedule  I 

1.  Manhattan  —  contd. 

14.  Murray  Hill    352 

15.  Orchard    167 

16.  Plaza    196 

17.  Rector    338 

18.  Schuyler    141 

19.  Schuyler    Inform 70 

20.  Spring    193 

21.  Stuyvesant    167 

22.  Vanderbilt    263 

23.  Wadsworth    116 

24.  Worth 271 


Total  6,061 


Schedule  II 


1.  Brooklyn. 

1.  Bay  Ridge   164 


2.  Bedford     213 

3.  Bensonhurst    113 

4.  Bushwick     139 

5.  Coney  Island    48 

6.  Decatur     78      i 

7.  East  New  York 172 

8.  Evergreen     77 

9.  Greenpoint    122 

10.  Hamilton    68 

11.  Long  Island  Toll 162 

12.  Main 260 

13.  Prospect    183 

[•72] 


1.  Brooklyn  —  contd. 

14.  Prospect   Inform 101 

15.  South    118 

16.  Stagj^    119 

17.  Sterling    42 

18.  Williamsburg    119 

2,  Lower  Bronx 

1.  Intervale    152 

2.  Melrose     235 

3.  Melrose  Toll    179 

4.  Tremont    126 


Total 2,990 


73 


Schedule  III 


1.  City  Island    

2.  Mt.    Vernon    

3.  New  Koehelle   

4.  Queens. 

1.  Astoria    

2.  Far  Rockaway 

3.  Flushing    

4.  Hammels    .... 

5.  Jamaica    

6.  Newtown    .... 


o 

87 
68 

U2 
73 
69 
25 
95 
54 


4.  Queens  —  contd. 

7.  Richmond  Hill    . .  . 

5.  Staten  Island. 

1.  New  Dorp   

2.  Tompkinsville     .    . 

3.  W.  New  Brighton 

6.  White   Plains    

7.  Yonkers    


Total 


91 

17 
70 
42 
56 

84 


898 


Schedule  IV 


1.  Albany. 

1.  Main     163 

2.  West    90 

2.  Buffalo. 

1.  Abbott     50 

2.  Howard    107 

3.  Seneca    266 

4.  Toll     142 

5.  Tupper    169 

7 

3 

3 

19 

3 

88 

25 


3.  Charlotte    

4.  Delmar     

5.  East  Syracuse 

6.  Little  Falls   .  . 

7.  New   Hartford 

8.  Niagara   Falls 

9.  Portchester    .  . 


10.  Rochester. 

1.  Chase    73 

2.  Genesee    66 

3.  Main    147 

11.  Scarsdale    10 

12.  Schenectady     127 

13.  Syracu«r. 

L  Toll    86 

2.  Warren    209 

14.  Tarrytown    19 

15.  Troy    135 

16.  Utica  Toll 55 

17.  Waterford    6 


Total  2,067 


Schedule  V 


1.  Auburn    (local)    45 

2.  Batavia    27 

3.  Binghamton    93 

4.  Briarcliff    5 

5.  Dunkirk    14 

6.  East  Aurora    15 

7.  Elmira    85 

S.  Endicott    10 

9.  Garden  City   38 

10    Glen   Cove    14 

11.  Haverstraw     7 

12.  Uhica    23 

13.  Ithaca    (Federal)    20 

14.  Kingston    48 

15.  Long  Beachr 2 


16.  Lockport     

17.  Mt.   Kisco    

IS.  Nya<5k     

19.  Olean     

2*0.  Piermont     

21.  Port  Washington 

22.  Poughkeepsie    . . 

23.  Rockville  Center 

24.  Rome     

25.  Roslyn    

26.  Salamanca     

27.  Tonawanda    .... 

28.  Watertown     .  . .  - 


46 

14 

18 

40 

6 

9 

64 

24 

26 

7 

19 

26 

56 


Total 801 


I 


w 


74 


Schedule 

1.  Albion    18  23. 

2.  Avon  ,{ Federal)     4  24. 

3.  Bay  Shore  11  25. 

4.  Brockport    6  26. 

5.  Canandaigua    7  27. 

6.  Canastota    8  28. 

7.  Canaseraga    (Ftnieral)     ...  2  29. 

8.  Catskill    11  30. 

9.  Corning    27  31. 

10.  Cortland    43  32. 

11.  Dansville    (Federal) 5  33. 

12.  Easthampton 6  34. 

13.  East    Rochester 6  35. 

14.  Fairport   (Federal)    5  36. 

15.  Fort   Edward    7  37. 

16.  Greneva    8  38. 

17.  Genesee    9  39. 

IS.  Glen    Falls    63  40. 

19.  Goshen    9  41. 

20.  Greenport    7  42. 

21.  Hamburg   10 

22.  Honeoye   Falls    7 


VI 

Hoosick  Falls   8 

Hornell    27 

Horseheads   5 

Huntington    H 

Leroy    ( Federal )    5 

Medina    16 

Mt.  Morris   10 

Norwich   17 

Oswego   43 

Patchogue    12 

Penn  Yan   22 

Pittsford    (Federal) 5 

Riverhead    10 

Rush    5 

Saugerties    10 

Sayville 5 

Silver  Creek   6 

Southampton    8 

Victor    6 

Yaphank    9 

Total 509 


75 


TOTAL  HOURS   WORKED   BY  THOSE  WORKING   A  FULL 

WEEK 

(t.e.  by  those  who  were  not  absent  at  all  nor  had  any  broken  time) 


l|5 


Shift 

38i  to  42 

42  to  46 

46  to  50 

1 

50  to  54 

54  and 
over 

Total 

Schedule 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

No. 

153 

86 

7 

246 

3 

% 

No. 

% 

D* 

E* 

N* 
T* 

D* 
E* 

N* 
T* 

D* 

E* 
N* 
T* 

D* 

E* 
N* 
T* 

D* 

E* 
N* 
T* 
D* 
E* 
N* 
T* 
D* 
E* 
N* 
T* 

988 
210 

1,649 

543 

313 

2,505 

779 

935 

237 

1,951 

207 

139 

64 

410 

574 

13 

88 

675 

228 

6 

59 

293 

136 

19 

49 

204 

3,573 

1,655 

810 

60!  is 

83!  48 
57.99 

76 
19 
49 
144 
44 

1 
15 
60 
13 

1 

1 
15 
10 

3 

'ZAG 

I 

73 

•  •  •  ■ 

■■'■73 

1.75 

1,198 

181 

99 

28.76 

5.90 

4,i66 

100 

II 

43 

.... 

".'.'. 

■■■"43 

■■i!84 

280 

76 

164 

11.98 

2.57 
'2'.i2 

3 
2 
1 

1 

4 

11 

.13 

2,337 

iou 

III 

38 



'■"38 

5.37 

240 
128 
617 

33.95 

.57 

707 

lUU 

IV 

41 

18 
29 
10 

,  , 

■•••4i 

■■2!73 

"■745 

56 

233 

49.57 

44.91 

is 

6 

.86 

1.93 

i,563 

100 

V 

14 

•  •  •  ■ 

'***i4 

2.29 

289 

25 

102 

47.22 

47.88 

57^95 
66.61 

48.58 
89.40 

6 
6 
3 

1 

10 

155 

27 

66 

248 

.98 

'2.85 

2.89 

.79 

7.29 

2.56 

10 
3 
1 

4 

8 

182 

88 

39 

300 

i.63 

6i2 

ioo 

VI 

3 

•  •  •  • 

3 

.85 

127 
1.454 
1,425 

36.08 
27.11 
41.83 

2.27   352 
3.39  5,364 
2.58  3.407 
3.31   906 
3.10  9,677t 

166 
100 
100 
100 

Total 

212 

6.22 

212 

2.19 

2,879 

29.75 

6,038 

62.40 

100 

♦  Day,  Evening,  Night,  Total.  .  x  1  4. 

t  Exclusive  of  234  (2.36%)  women  for  whom  information  was  not  complete. 


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82 


TABLE  SHOWraO  PERCENTAGE   OF  OPERATORS  ON 

SPLIT  TRICK 

(Taken  in  exchanges  where  number  of  split  trick  operators  was  reported) 


DiviaiON 


5'i 

'If 


Manhattan  and  Bronx  (No.  of  exchanges,  29)*. 
Brooklyn  and  Queens  (No.  of  exchanges,  25)* 
Long  Island  (No.  of  exchanges,  15)* 
Staten  Island  (No.  of  exchanges,  3)*. 

Central  (No.  of  exchanges,  23)* 

Western  (No.  of  exchanges.  35)*.  .  . . 
Hudson  (No.  of  exchanges,  14)*. . . 
Westchester  (No.  of  exchanges,  12)* 


Number 

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exchanges 


Total 
number 

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operators 

in 
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Totel 

number 

of 

split 

trick 

operators 


♦  Numbers  of  exchanges  taken  in  investigation. 


Per  cent 

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split 

trick 

operators 


5.95 
23.67 
27.90 
34.11 
25.45 
23.63 
22.64 
30.85 


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Total 
No. 

4,383 

2,655 

784 

1.790 

695 

424 

CO 

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$45  00- 
$45.99 

•!-••••• 

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$36  00- 
$36.99 

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$35.00- 
$35.99 

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$34.00- 
$34.99 

f^CO  —  CO      •      • 

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93 


EARNINGS 


WAGE   GROUP 


Under  $12. 
$12-$14    . . 


16. 
18. 


14- 

16- 

18-  20 

20-  22 

22- 

24- 

26- 


24. 
26. 

28. 


28-  30. 


32. 
34. 
36. 
38. 


30- 
32- 
34- 
36- 
38-  40. 
40-  42. 
42- 
44- 


44. 
46. 


Total . 


Schedule 


32 

482 

677 

669 

793 

572 

453 

287 

187 

115 

54 

25 

12 

7 

8 

6 

4 


II 


III 


47 

234 

193 

609 

501 

385 

285 

139 

111 

87 

26 

17 

10 

4 

1 

4 

1 

1 


46 

68 

149 

173 

121 

64 

78 

39 

17 

14 

8 

6 

1 


IV 


4,383 


2,655 


784 


85 

204 

470 

373 

285 

151 

136 

48 

18 

6 

4 

2 

5 

2 

1 


63 

98 

186 

139 

100 

49 

38 

14 

6 

1 

1 


1,790 


VI 


63 
69 
85 
102 
64 
23 
13 
3 


Total 


695 


424 


CUMULATIVE  TABLE  OF  EARNINGS 


336 

1,155 

1,760 

2,065 

1,864 

1,244 

1,003 

530 

339 

224 

94 

50 

28 

13 

10 

10 

5 

1 


10.731 


WAGE   GROUP 

Schedule 

I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

Total 

Under  $12 

32 
514 
1,191 
1,860 
2,653 
3,225 
3,678 
3,965 
4,152 
4,267 
4,321 
4,346 
4,358 
4,365 
4,373 
4,379 
4,383 
4,383 

47 
281 
474 
1,083 
1,584 
1,969 
2,254 
2,393 
2,504 
2,591 
2,617 
2,634 
2,644 
2,648 
2,649 
2,653 
2,654 
2,655 

46 
114 

263 
436 
557 
621 
699 
738 
755 
769 
777 
783 
784 
784 
784 
784 
784 
784 

85 
289 
759 
1,132 
1,417 
1,568 
1.704 
1,752 
1.770 
1.776 
1,780 
1,782 
1,787 
1,789 
1,790 
1,790 
1,790 
1,790 

63 
161 
347 
486 
586 
635 
673 
687 
693 
694 
695 
695 
695 
695 
695 
695 
695 
695 

63 
132 
217 
319 
383 
406 
419 
422 
422 
423 
424 
424 
424 
424 
424 
424 
424 
424 

336 

Under    14 

1,491 

Under    16 

3,251 

Under    18 

5,316 

Under    20 

7,180 

Under    22 

8.424 

Under    24 

9,427 

Under    26 

9,957 

Under    28 

10,296 

Under    30 

10,520 

Under    32 

10,614 

Under    34 

10,664 

Under    36 

10,692 

Under    38 

10,705 

Under    40 

10,715 

Under    42 

10,725 

Under    44 

10,730 

Under    46 

10,731 

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COLUMBIA   UNIVERSITY   LIBRARIES 


DATE  BORROWeo 


m 


AEfi_UJ2SQj 


C28(747.  MlOO 


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TlH-S 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 


041393511 


'•KJL  011994 


NEH 


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